The Mankin Side of Life
by Canadino
Summary: Triangles are pretty hard shapes to nagivate...but love squares? Various pairings.
1. Enter Ren Tao!

**Disclaimer: If Shaman King were mine, I wouldn't need to write fanfics.**

Background music: ------

Not another school story, you say! Please, spare us! I would love to, but my invisible writing stalker won't let me! I promise I will skip over the dramatic shonen-ai shojo version, since I know probably no guys would actually do that, but there will shonen-ai! Pairings are still up in the air, but please know the love square before flaming me. The pairings I suggest may or may not be there in the end. And yes, there will be an end!

Chapter 1 – Enter Ren Tao!

"Ren, it's time to get up!"

Ren groaned. Why couldn't he just have a normal alarm clock? Why couldn't his father let him buy a normal digital clock; instead that man forced him to buy a 'traditional' clock, with the hour and minute hands and even that didn't have any special features to it. It was a wall clock, with a red rim and the symbol 'Tao' in the middle. Normal kids had bedside alarm clocks. Normal kids didn't have parents obsessed with the family name.

Then again, normal kids didn't live in goddamn mansions.

So since he wasn't normal, he didn't have a bedside alarm clock. He slept in fucking silk sheets that were freezing cold in the winter, sticky when it was summer, and if he slid on his bed too quick, slippery so that one would fall on his or her ass if jumped on.

Ren had many a sore ass in his own room.

That aside, the annoyingly loud voice suddenly appeared in his room. In a flurry of what looked like a mass of elaborate Chinese fabric, skin, ivory hair clips, and green hair, his older sister, Jun, was right next to his bed, smirking like the happy-go-lucky girl she was.

"It's time to embrace the day, Ren! Come on, get up!"

"Go away." Ren pulled the annoying warm silk sheets over his head. For once, he'd give just to have a normal comforter. But no – he had layers of fucking SILK! He almost wished the westerners would just have stolen all the silk worms back in the day. Then maybe he wouldn't be forced to sleep in such an annoying atrocity.

People who envied him were stupid.

"Schooling is so very important," Jun chirped. She started away at some speech which Ren rarely listened to. Ag, Jun could be so preppy sometimes. She was so different from him, who kept his mouth shut. Raised in the same strict, high strung family…but so different. God, times like this made Ren so glad he wasn't a girl.

And wasn't even the slightest interested in them.

"Alright, I'm getting up."

"Good. Come on, Ren, it's just Monday."

Jumping off the bed, Jun turned to the door. "Daddy's in a good mood this morning. Apparently, some business deal went through smoothly and he's acting like the world's on his plate. So ask for anything. I think I was able to make him get me a car."

Jun, the only seventeen year old girl who still called her father 'daddy'.

Jun skipped out of the room, allowing Ren to pull off his pajamas and slip into his uniform.

He hated that Mankin High had uniforms, but at least he looked pretty good in it. The school (which offered from preschool to 12 grade) issued two white dress shirts and a dark aqua colored tie for the boy's uniform; the bottom part of the uniform was up to the fashion sense of the boy in question, as long as it wasn't navy jeans or pajama pants.

Or a speedo. Apparently, the swimwear was NOT included in 'appropriate dress', as all the boys found out after some kid wore it to school on a dare.

Not giving any names, but you can be sure that if you even mention the word 'speedo' in front of a certain Manta Oyamada, the said person would probably scurry away.

Not giving any names, of course.

Pulling on some dark denim, Ren buttoned his shirt and tied the tie loosely around his neck. Looking at himself at the mirror in the hall, Ren had to admit, he looked pretty damn smart.

And good-looking. God, if he had to go through the first day of high school and nearly getting jumped on by a lot of girls and a few guys again…

Pausing at the top of the stairs, Ren looked behind him into his room, which was pretty messed up: there were a few peeling posters on the walls and there were clothes scattered all on the ground. There was a glare where the sun hit the drum set he had in a corner of his room. He had taken up drums a few years back, when he had moved to America in the first place. That was…three years ago?

You could say his room was a bit emo. There were dark shades of black in various places, and there were an abundance of quite emo-like patterns. Then again, you could say he was a bookworm. There were more than one shelf of organized books. Or you could say he was sporty, if you saw the hung up soccer jersey hanging in his closet or the soccer ball resting quite unsteadily on top of a pile of papers on his desk.

He was a bit of all these.

Coming to the bottom of the grand staircase, Ren had his attention distracted as Jun appeared in a flowery dress from the doorway to the kitchen. Jun had been smart enough to be admitted to a pretty elite high school somewhere two hours away. The school had a policy of casual dress and Jun flaunted her 'unique' sense of style everyday with strange new combinations of colors and clothes.

"Mom, he's down."

"Ren? Come in here."

Ren rolled his eyes as he passed Jun, who was starting to leave for school. Her green hair was hanging loosely in a ponytail as she grabbed her carrier bag and followed a driver to the car. Ren's driver, Maki, nodded as Ren passed him in the kitchen.

Sometimes Ren wished he wasn't the only one getting driven to school by a paid driver in a bullet proof car.

His mother was sitting at the elaborate dining table, which happened to be right next to a huge window overlooking the little town they lived in. The Taos had managed to buy the huge mansion the moment they arrived in this place. The mansion itself had three floors with many windows, which all had good views since the mansion was on top of a hill. There were no problems of bothersome neighbors; everyone around the neighborhood had already labeled the Taos as a bunch of arrogant rich expletives, along with other unmentionable adjectives.

At first, the welcoming was friendly, until his father got it in his head to throw a welcoming party…for himself…and invited everyone in the neighborhood. The conversation was nice and cordial at first…until it started to melt into what everyone did for a living.

"I run a supermarket."

"I'm a librarian."

"I'm a stock broker."

"Oh, that's all nice, but I bet I make more than you combined. I'm sure my head is worth more than all your sorry saps put together." His father, En, decided to take it upon himself to spell out a complete history of the Tao Corporation, which started early in China and progressed to a nicely funded company that sold everything from toys to computers to underwear.

Chances were, if something read 'Made in China', it's probably from the Tao Corporation.

After the party, no one came to visit, no matter what his mother said.

Not to say he or any of his family members hadn't made any friends. At that party, Ren was sitting in a corner, knowing that every single kid there was on a one way track to pure hatred. Then as he was wallowing in self pity, one boy had come out of the crowd who was engrossed in En's speech to come talk to him.

"Hey, you bored out of your mind too?"

Ren looked up. This boy looked Japanese, but his English was pretty good. Feeling a little flustered (Ren was always shy around people he didn't even know…and this was his second day in America, mind you!), Ren nodded. "Yeah…sorry about my father."

"Sorry about mine too. I don't even know where he is." The boy shrugged, the orange headphones on his head shifted slightly. "Just up and left when I was two. So…why did you move here?"

Ren wondered what he should do. He was sitting alone, hugging his knees and looking positively pitiful. Would this new kid think he was strange or something? Quickly coming to a standing position, Ren tried to redeem himself. "Um, well, my father though he already pulled around his weight a lot in China, so he thought he might as well see what it was like in America, which is the country which buys most of the Tao Corp's products. A new view on life, or whatever."

Yoh laughed. "That's a funny reason to come. And here I thought that maybe he was getting tired of telling the same story to random people on the streets and decided to come and torture us here."

"That could be a reason." Yoh laughed more since Ren had said this with a completely straight face.

Was it normal to laugh like that? Ren had no idea. His father had instructed him not to laugh uncontrollably to avoid looking like a complete idiot. This boy, however, did so and didn't seem like a total doushe. Then again, Jun also laughed most of the day, and she was pretty smart as it comes.

"So tell me about yourself, Ren."

"How do you know my name?"

"Well, your father's been talking about how you're about to be the heir of his company in a few years, and since your other sibling is a girl, I kinda figured."

Ren groaned. "Great. Now everyone's going to hate me."

"That's not true. I don't hate you. You don't seem annoying or at least, not at first glance."

"Gee, thanks," Ren said sarcastically. "Well, my name's Ren Tao, I was born on January first, and I'm blood type A."

"God, does everyone in China introduce themselves in the same way?" Yoh looked shocked. "God, what happened to the friendly, 'oh, my favorite color is red, and I liked llamas' and things like that?"

"My favorite color is red, and I don't like sarcasm."

"Whoa, whoa, alright!" Yoh put his hands out in mock fear. "All bow to the almighty Ren! Besides, why would I want to know your blood type? Do you need a blood transfusion?"

"It just seems like the type of information Americans might want to know."

"Alright. My name's Asakura. Asakura Yoh. Yeah, and in kanji, it's written as 'leaf'. Alright…I was born on May twelfth in a set of twins, my blood type is O, I like the color orange, music, and I guess I like you."

He had been friends with Yoh ever since. Jun had made a few fast friends, and along with them, she and her little merry band had snuck out the backdoor and came back later that night, when everyone had left. Ren knew he smelled a bit of alcohol, but he wasn't going to complain. His mother had a harder time, but now she was routinely chatting up the nearby housewives. His father didn't have any neighborhood friends, settling with hanging out with the big dogs.

His mother sipped some sweet smelling tea. "Have a good day, okay?"

"Yeah, I know." Ren turned as a maid shuffled past him and pressed some food in his hands. She shuffled out a door. Ren sighed as he bit into some dim sum. Only an army of maids could keep the house so sparkly clean in the shadows – floors were swept, meals made, laundry done, appliances fixed: all by a large group of maids ordered not to be noticed or seen unless absolutely necessary. There was no worry of an uprising – what En paid them was enough for them to suck up the abuse and let angry feelings just sit.

"Go and make the Tao name proud," his father said, not looking up from the paper. "Do what you always do, Ren."

"Hmm."

The ride to school was always uneventful. Ren didn't mind sitting in silence as he watched normal people go around their normal lives, stewing in normality dreaming their normal dreams…he wished he could be normal.

"Good day, botchama."

Ren rolled his eyes. The head of security of the Tao family, Bason, was always calling him 'botchama' and it was starting to become an annoying nickname. "Don't call me that. And come around three thirty."

"Will do, botchama."

Ignoring Maki, Ren walked into Mankin High, also ignoring the calls of those annoying girls in the hallways. Coming to a stop in front of his classroom, Ren took a deep breath and started the day with a positive mindset: _he's going to like me more than he does now._

Walking into the classroom cluttered with desks and chairs, Ren immediately noticed the object of his affections.

"Morning, Yoh."

"Hey, Ren. You're late."

Trying to stifle a smile and failing, Ren decided _what the hell_ and leaned on Yoh's desk. "How was your weekend?"

Ren wasn't sure when he started liking Yoh…probably a few weeks after school started three years ago. Yoh had been the friendliest face he'd met so far in this foreign land, and he was helpful to boot. Not to mention the Asakura was friendly and likeable. He was sure he wasn't alone in thinking so.

"Hmm. Normal. Oh, never mind, I can't say that. Um…boring." Yoh laughed, his gaze wavering for a moment. If Ren wasn't mistaken, Yoh was watching something, someone, but with so many students in the room, he wasn't sure whom. Yoh shrugged. "I don't know."

"Really? That's too bad." Ren looked at Yoh, but the brunnette's attention had shifted again and he was watching someone again.

If only that Asakura could have eyes for him too!

TO BE CONTINUED…

Note: how many school stories of mankin are there? Too many to count. I'm trying to make this one not fall into the cliché category, but there will be shonen-ai. And most school stories with that mixed in tend to end up in the same old 'rivalry, tension, eventual getting together with who they really like'. Hopefully, I can make my special with my style of writing. But I warn you that that storyline is the going to be along the same lines. I'm just trying my best to spice it up with something different.

Anything goes! Read and review, please! Thank you!


	2. Enter Asakura Yoh!

**Disclaimer: If Shaman King were mine, I wouldn't need to write fanfics.**

Background music: ------

Not another school story, you say! Please, spare us! I would love to, but my invisible writing stalker won't let me! I promise I will skip over the dramatic shonen-ai shojo version, since I know probably no guys would actually do that, but there will shonen-ai! Pairings are still up in the air, but please know the love square before flaming me. The pairings I suggest may or may not be there in the end. And yes, there will be an end!

Chapter 2 – Enter Asakura Yoh!

"Yoh!"

"I'm up, mom. I'm up."

Yoh rolled out of bed…literally. Hitting the floor with a thud, the Asakura pushed himself up. This, he found, was the most effective way of waking himself up. Hitting the ground. Yeah, it was stupid and air headed, but it worked. Pulling on his trademark orange headphones, he groped around the room for his school shirt to cover his naked top half of his body. Sleeping with only boxers and pajama pants was pretty comfortable, which explained how he could sleep for hours and hours on end. Pulling the white fabric around him, Yoh yawned as he buttoned the clear buttons. He got up and almost tripped on the cord of his electric guitar.

Why did they have to make such a small cord so easy to be tripped on?

Opening the curtains of his room, Yoh blinked his sleepy eyes against the light of day. The light the sun shed on the room lit up the posters of SoulBob, along with piles of junk he didn't bother to ever sort out. His mother, Keiko, had tried and after the carpet could actually be seen, it was covered up the next day again.

The orange electric guitar had neon yellow lightning bolts all over it, and it had various scratches when the Asakura had dropped it and or tripped over it.

The silver razr on his messy paper buried desk started vibrating.

Yoh groaned and shuffled across his room to pick up. "What is it? It's seven in the morning."

"Exactly, sleepyhead. Get up and let's go."

Automatically, Yoh felt his spine straighten as he heard the voice. "Oh, it's you."

"Yeah, it's me," the voice said, sounding exasperated. "It's only me, Lyserg Diethyl, your lifelong childhood friend, and walking-to-and-from-school buddy. Let's chop up the pace, shall we?"

"God, I hate it when you use your stupid British accent on me. You weren't even born in Britain."

"Oh, we're not going to make this about me. This is about you." The voice paused and Yoh heard kitchen sounds and a faint voice…his mother? "Get your ass down here, Yoh."

"Why are you in my HOUSE?" Yoh asked, shedding his stripped pajama pants and pulling on dark green kakis.

"Well, in case you didn't notice, it's a bit nippy out there. You aren't going to let me sit outside, are you?"

Of course not. In fact, if Yoh could have his way, Lyserg would be with him, warming up in his blanket.

Yoh groaned and hung up. He _had_ to stop thinking those kinds of thoughts.

Well, what could he expect from knowing and hanging out with that green haired pretty boy for years on end? It was almost impossible to grow up with Lyserg and _not_ fall for him.

Their friendship started out in kindergarten. Yoh had been a pretty likeable kid even from the beginning, and even though he had started school with kids he didn't know, by the end of the first day, he had a group of people to hang out with. The American born kids had found him fascinating: an American born Japanese! Wowie (can you hear the sarcasm?)! A few days later, there was a new student, and he was instantly another hit. He had green (yes, green! A nice grassy green!) hair, and not only that, he had such a funny accent!

"'ello," the shy little boy in front of the whole class murmured. "I-it's nice to m-meet all of you…"

It probably didn't help the poor boy's nerves much with everyone staring at him.

Yoh watched Lyserg with interest. This new boy seemed interesting, despite his strange hair color. After observing him stay away from everyone, Yoh finally went up to Lyserg at recess, startling the boy who was sitting alone on a swing.

"Hey, wanna play with us?"

Lyserg stared at him, innocent green eyes looking a little scared. "Um…well…what are you playing?"

"Leave him alone," Yoh heard one of his friends call. "He's just a scardy-cat. Or he hates us."

"I don't hate you," Lyserg murmured, looking down at his feet.

"Oh, he doesn't mean it." Yoh shrugged at his friends. "I'm not playing yet."

His friends tried to convince him to leave Lyserg alone, but Yoh persisted until his group decided to start without him. Lyserg looked up as Yoh sat down on the swing next to him.

"So…" Yoh said slowly. "Why do you talk so funny?"

"I don't talk funny," Lyserg protested, looking offended. "You…everyone talks strange to me."

"Where are you from?"

"England." Lyserg covered his mouth, as if he had said something wrong. "Oh, oops. I mean, I was born in America, but a few weeks later, my parents decided to go back to England and I've been living there ever since except for a few days ago when we moved back here."

"Oh."

Lyserg paused for a moment, as if debating whither or not to say what he wanted to say. "I miss England," he confessed, looking a little ashamed. "My mom said I'd like it here, but…I don't know. Everyone looks at me funny and no one wants to talk to me."

"Well, I'm talking to you, aren't I?"

Lyserg turned to Yoh. "Yeah…who are you again?"

"Yoh. Asakura Yoh."

"Oh. Okay. My name's…"

"Lyserg Diethyl, I know. It sounds so much cooler when you say it."

Lyserg looked surprised. "No one's said that to me before."

"Well, get used to it. We're friends now." Yoh nodded with this new and quick development. "So now we're going to hang out, alright? Now come play with us."

Lyserg had always been a shy person. Yoh had always been the one to stand up for him or sometimes to actually speak for him. It was only a few years back in sixth grade when the greenette actually started opening up to new people. Before then, Yoh was his only friend. Now Lyserg had a lot of friends due to his open and sunny personality. Yoh realized that when Lyserg finally started becoming more outgoing, it was around the time he started liking his British friend.

Taking the stairs two at a time, Yoh rounded the corner and entered his kitchen. Lyserg was sitting on one of the chairs around the kitchen's island, drinking coffee and looking amused. "Yoh, you look totally messed up."

Yoh stood still for a second to drink in Lyserg with his eyes. The greenette looked pretty good today; his shirt was straight, unlike his, which was wrinkled and sticking out in places. The aqua colored tie around the boy's neck was tied neatly, and coupled with a dark, dark colored skinny jeans, Lyserg looked ready to face the day. Yoh looked down at himself. Yup, messy.

"Yoh, comb your hair," Keiko said, handing Yoh a comb before turning back to the bacon on the stove. Yoh took a seat next to Lyserg.

"We're late," the greenette remarked, poking at the watch around his wrist. Yoh glanced at the British watch Lyserg had gotten in England a few years back, with Roman numerals, a clear quartz face, and a green leather band. Seven o' five. Yoh scoffed. "Please. We're hardly late. School starts at eight."

"Well, we're late to me." Lyserg finished his coffee. "Thanks a lot, Ms. Asakura."

"Don't worry about it, Lyserg. You can come over whenever you want. Yoh won't mind." Keiko turned to face Yoh in a way that only her son could see her face and winked. Yoh rolled his eyes as he went to get himself some milk. His mother had discovered his crush on his childhood friend and was milking it for all it was worth.

Lyserg sighed and watched Yoh pour himself milk. "Sometimes I wonder what goes on in that messy head of yours, Yoh," Lyserg said.

"Sometimes I wonder that myself."

Lyserg laughed. Yoh liked his friend's laugh. It always sounded fresh and new, like a summer day. Lyserg's eyes would always light up when he laughed, turning the grassy green even lighter. Lyserg's smile was enough to make him feel ready for the day ahead of him.

"Well, when you find out, tell me." Keiko turned and emptied the bacon and eggs on a plate in front of Yoh. "Eat up, honey."

Yoh bit into his eggs as he watched his mother in front of him. It was hard on her, he knew, even if she didn't show it, to raise a son by herself. His father, Mikihisa, had left him and mother alone thirteen years ago, taking his twin brother with him. It had been a long time since he even saw his older brother; Mikihisa and Keiko were on bad terms since the divorce and they couldn't stand even five minutes with each other. He had heard that his father had been a kind of a drunk and could be pretty harsh with his words. Yoh vowed he would never turn into his father.

"Hello?" Yoh blinked as he saw a hand wave in front of his face. "You've been staring at your mom for the past five minutes straight," Lyserg said, frowning. "You don't learn, do you?"

"Just let me eat, Lyserg."

Lyserg sighed and glanced at his watch. "But Yoh…"

"Please?" Yoh gave him his signature puppy eyes.

Lyserg sighed again and gave up. "Fine, fine, but only because I _like_ you so much."

Yoh smiled. "That's more like it." He wished Lyserg actually meant what he said, on a different level, because as far as he was concerned, Yoh was only a best friend and nothing more.

Lyserg was already in like with someone else.

"When you're done, put your plate in the sink and get going. Lyserg's right, you know." Keiko took off her apron. "Knowing you, it'll take you half an hour to walk a normally fifteen minute walk to school."

"Why is everyone on my case?" Yoh asked no one in particular. Keiko smiled and walked out of the kitchen to somewhere else in the little house.

Yoh lived a few blocks away from the Tao mansion, where the middle class people lived. His house was modest as it came, a stereotypical vinyl lining house with a creaky porch. It was pretty big for only two people, so Yoh and his mother came along pretty well.

"We all love you so much," Lyserg said sarcastically, swirling around the coffee dregs in his cup.

Yoh turned to his green haired friend. Instantly, a scene floated into his mind: Lyserg smiling a little coy smile before sliding closer to Yoh, wrapping his arms around the Asakura and whispering _Especially me, Yoh, I…_

"Yoh. You're spacing out more than usual."

Yoh blinked. Dammit. He had to stop thinking those kind of thoughts. It got him a tad horny, and that was a bad thing to be while sitting along with Lyserg in a deserted kitchen.

Stop. … Stop.

"Bye mom."

"Bye, sweetie. I'll see you later!" Yoh closed the door behind him. His mother was probably getting ready for work at the firm. Keiko was a good attorney, but she was constantly stuck with the boring, little cases, like break-ins and thief cases that did nothing to stimulate her sharp law-abiding mind. Maybe that was why Yoh was always considered a goodie-goodie.

"Yoh, you walk so slowly!" Lyserg was already at the sidewalk, decked in a green hoodie he had probably gotten in England. That boy liked Britain too much.

"Alright, I'm coming, I'm coming." Yoh pulled the black hoodie over his head and followed Lyserg down the street, listening to meaningless chatter about random things. Today, Lyserg decided to discuss British bands, a topic Yoh knew little about, despite his knowledge about bands.

"And then they say AC/DC is making a come-back, and I think so too, cause I think they're pretty good to begin with…" Yoh was starting to lose Lyserg in his rant about AC/DC. Yoh closed his eyes and tried to follow what Lyserg was saying.

"Hey, if you walk down the street with your eyes closed, you're going to run into something."

"I'm tired."

"You do this once a week, you know that?" Yoh, in his blindness, felt a hand slip into his own. "I hate playing the guide dog, you know that?"

"Well, it's only once a week," Yoh said, feeling a smile cross his face. This habit had started a few years back when Yoh was starting to realize his attraction to the boy in front of him. Closing his eyes to try and block out a dirty thought (Yoh's puberty hit like an iron fist), Yoh had felt Lyserg stop in front of him and grab his hand.

"Hey, hey, hey. Yoh. Open your eyes."

"No, not yet." Yoh felt his face flush thinking about the dirty thought that included some…ah, unmentionable activities.

"Fine. I'll lead you to school today."

Thus, the habit began.

When they got to school, though, Yoh was forced to open his eyes. The second they reached Mankin High's gates, Lyserg's hand would mysteriously disappear and Yoh would find himself alone. Lyserg always disappeared out of his range of sight during this time, and Yoh made his way to the classroom on his own, only to find Lyserg talking to Horohoro.

Yup, Lyserg was already in like with someone else.

Yoh settled himself down at his desk, watching Lyserg shamelessly. No one else knew of his crush on the British boy, but then again, Yoh was known for staring out into space. Now was like one of those times. So no one bothered to ask. And Yoh left it that way.

"Morning, Yoh."

"Hey, Ren. You're late."

Note: apparently, some of you were wondering why all this takes place in America. One: I didn't feel like researching up schools in Japan. Two: Technically, Yoh's parents came to America for their own purposes that will not be explained, they just did. Then they had Yoh (and Hao), then the divorce, then Mikihisa leaves. I hope this clears some questions up.

Next will be the introduction from Lyserg's POV! Be patient! After Lyserg and Horo are introduced, the story will be on its way!


	3. Enter Lyserg Diethyl!

**Disclaimer: If Shaman King were mine, I wouldn't need to write fanfics.**

Background music: ------

Not another school story, you say! Please, spare us! I would love to, but my invisible writing stalker won't let me! I promise I will skip over the dramatic shonen-ai shojo version, since I know probably no guys would actually do that, but there will shonen-ai! Pairings are still up in the air, but please know the love square before flaming me. The pairings I suggest may or may not be there in the end. And yes, there will be an end!

Chapter 3 – Enter Lyserg Diethyl!

"You're going to love it here, Lyserg. Everyone's so friendly. Don't you remember orientation?"

"Mummy, I don't want to go to an American school."

"Don't be silly. That's what you said back in England, and see how happy you were there?"

"It was different."

His mother rolled his eyes. "Alright, dear, we're here." They stopped in front of a closed classroom door. "Don't worry about making friends, Lyserg. Everyone will just love you! You're so cute."

"Mum, don't go."

"I'm sorry, I have to go to work, honey. Don't worry about it." She opened the door and suddenly seventeen faces looked over at her. "Oh…goodness, so many children." She looked down at her son, who was doing his best to hide behind her. "Oh, don't be afraid. Look…oh, see that boy with the orange headphones?"

Lyserg peeked out and saw a friendly-looking boy looking at him with interest.

"What about him?" he muttered.

"He looks nice. I bet he'd be your friend. Don't worry about everyone; they'll love you." With a kiss and a hug, his mother was gone.

The day had been utterly miserable. Everyone kept trying to make him talk to hear his accent. Before long, he had just zipped it and refused to talk to anyone. This made everyone curious; they talked to him even more. After that, he just ignored them. They persisted and persisted until even the most interested just faded away. Lyserg sat in a corner by himself, content with just watching everyone play.

It did look fun, though.

And that orange headphoned boy was staring at him again.

Sitting alone at recess, Lyserg was not anticipating Yoh to come up to him to talk to him.

"I'm Yoh. Asakura Yoh."

Lyserg was painfully shy. So shy, in fact, talking to Yoh had almost paralyzed him with fear. Slowly, he learned to open up to this friendly face. Everyone else could have just been background; Yoh was all he needed.

Bring bring bring bring bring bring bring

Lyserg opened his eyes eleven years later. The alarm clock next to him was ringing endlessly. "Shut up," he muttered, slamming a hand on the clock, which instantly quieted down. Sitting up, Lyserg wondered how messy he looked.

Probably like Yoh. But that boy made messy look classic.

It took him only a few minutes to get ready. Lyserg only took about fifteen minutes of the morning actually in his house before bounding out to Yoh's.

"You look nice today, dear," his mother said, looking tired as she opened the paper. Lyserg looked at her as he grabbed his bookbag.

"I always look like this when I go to school."

"You look better today." She looked at him for a moment more. "A bit neater than usual."

"Okay…" Lyserg said slowly. "Where's dad?"

"Liam went to work early today." She disappeared behind the front page. "A police officer needs to be on call 24/7."

Lyserg shrugged. "I was just wondering. See you later, mom."

"Bye, dear."

Yoh lived one and a half blocks away from him, so it took him only a few minutes to reach the Asakura household. Keiko answered the door when he knocked.

"Hello Lyserg. I'm sorry, but Yoh's not up yet."

Lyserg sighed. "He's never up when I'm here!" He shivered slightly…it was a little cold. Keiko, being a mother, noticed this slight movement instantly. "Why don't you come in and I fix you some coffee?"

"Oh, thank you."

After a few minutes of normal conversation with Keiko that included how's school? How's the family? How's Yoh? (Lyserg never understood why she suddenly was so interested in what he and Yoh did together), Lyserg decided it had reached the point of toleration and pulled out his cell phone. Putting the chocolate Motorola to his ear, Lyserg waited for someone to pick up.

"What is it? It's seven in the morning."

"Exactly, sleepyhead. Get up and let's go."

There was a pause and Lyserg though he heard Yoh stand up straighter. He was startling Yoh a lot lately. One time he just tapped the boy on the shoulder and Yoh nearly fell over. Sometimes Yoh would get all flustered around him or space out for long periods of time.

It was Yoh. What did he expect?

He had walked to school with Yoh ever since they had reached sixth grade. For some reason, Lyserg remembered sixth grade as a blur. Maybe it was puberty, maybe he had broken out of his shy shell, but he had opened up a lot more during that time, revealing his personality slowly to the world. Everyone hadn't expected the quiet boy who talked to only Asakura Yoh to be so like…what he was. Slowly, he made more friends and now Yoh wasn't the only one to know he'd scratched his name into Big Ben.

Maybe it was for the best. Yoh had become progressively quieter since sixth grade. Yoh was still the nice, friendly boy he'd always been, but he had toned it all down, settling with just listening. Now it was Lyserg who was reaching out to others while Yoh watched quietly.

It was probably just a phase. Yoh would grow out of it, right?

Lyserg turned to ask Yoh something to see that the boy had his eyes closed. "Yoh. If you walk down the street with your eyes closed, you're going to run into something."

Yoh was so strange sometimes. It was sometime in seventh grade when Lyserg had discovered that Yoh had a weird little habit of walking down the street with his eyes closed. He had played the guide dog, first as a joke, now as an obligation, since he was sure Yoh would probably wander onto the street. Grasping the Asakura's hand tightly, Lyserg sighed and walked Yoh down the street.

But once they reached the gates…

Lyserg instantly let go of Yoh's hand as he saw a flash of blue. "I'll see you later," he called to his friend, shooting through the crowd of students to get to the person he wanted to see, the reason why he was trying to rush Yoh every morning. Just so he could talk to…

"Horo!"

The blue haired boy turned when he heard his name. "Oh, Lyserg, it's you. You're here early."

He didn't bothering hiding his crush on Horokeu. Horohoro. Whatever. Everyone had already speculated that Lyserg though of Horo of more than just a friend, just not the other way around. The rumor was kept in the shadows and very hush – hush since Lyserg was popular and no one wanted to mess with Horo. Lyserg had heard already anyway, and he hadn't agreed with it, but he didn't disagree either.

He wasn't sure what drew him to Horo. The Usui had transferred to Mankin High in seventh grade, the year after Ren had came. Even before Horohoro had even gotten used to his new surroundings, there were already gossip spreading about him.

"I heard he's in a gang."

"I heard he got kicked out of his old school after nearly _killing_ another kid!"

"I heard he was smoking pot in the bathrooms!"

"No, I swear I heard that he was planning on burning the school down!"

Horo was a strange kid. His seat was right next to the window and he just sat and stared out of it the first day he was there. The first day happened to be the coldest day of the week, with highs in the low twenties. And Horo?

"He's wearing cargo shorts in winter?"

"He's hardcore. I bet he trains in the mountains or something."

Lyserg and Yoh were listening in to the group discussing Horo's potential history. Ren had decided the conversation was stupid and was currently trying to convince Yoh so. Lyserg glanced over at Horo. He didn't look bad at all, actually. Maybe a bit lonely.

He knew how that felt.

Taking matters into his own hands, Lyserg slid off the desk he was sitting on and walked over to the new kid. The crowd whispering the rumors instantly shut up to watch.

"Hi, I'm Lyserg Diethyl. Is it true that you're in a gang slash nearly killed another kid at your old school slash smoke pot slash want to burn the school down slash train in the mountains?"

Horo had turned and gave him a funny look. "Nice to meet you too," he said.

Lyserg was taken aback.

"Don't believe what they say, greenie. I'm not in a gang…_anymore_, and the kid I 'nearly killed' was trying to do the same to me, so what else could I do? I've only done pot _once_ and it's shit, so don't do it. And no, I don't train in the mountains."

Lyserg decided such raw honesty deserved friendship, no matter what everyone else said.

So since he made himself friends with Horo, automatically, Ren and Yoh were in it too. Horo really wasn't as bad a person as everyone thought he was. He just had been through a lot. A lot.

And because of this, he was different. So much different from everyone else. Lyserg was drawn in by this strangeness; he'd never known anyone like this before. In fact, it was usually him who was in the position of the 'weird kid'.

He decided they were one of a kind.

And that was his reasoning behind his crush on Horo.

Note: we're finally near the end of the character introductions! Hold tight for next update, where we will see Horo's POV! After that, the story can finally get started! The plot will be laid out for all to see! Wait for only a little longer!


	4. Enter Horokeu Usui!

**Disclaimer: If Shaman King were mine, I wouldn't need to write fanfics.**

Background music: ------

Not another school story, you say! Please, spare us! I would love to, but my invisible writing stalker won't let me! I promise I will skip over the dramatic shonen-ai shojo version, since I know probably no guys would actually do that, but there will shonen-ai! Pairings are still up in the air, but please know the love square before flaming me. The pairings I suggest may or may not be there in the end. And yes, there will be an end!

Chapter 4 – Enter Horokeu Usui!

The phone lying in a pile of dirty clothes started beeping. Next to it was a bed, covered with more clothes, which were cushioning a body with lightning blue hair. The beeping consisted and finally there was movement. A hand reached out and silenced the annoying sound. Horokeu (Horohoro, Horo, whatever you want to say) sat up and rubbed his head. God, morning already?

Shifting in his closet of a room, Horo rummaged around the piles of clothes around him for his school shirt. If Pirka had decided to do his laundry that morning, that girl had it coming.

Oh, there it was.

Sometimes he wished he had a bigger room. But if he had a bigger room, he'd probably be in a bigger house. And he knew his family couldn't afford that.

The Usuis lived in what was considered the slums of the community. There had been gang wars and car crashes on the street they lived on, but ever since the law decided to crack down on the place, it had been relatively safer. No more loitering, no more getting worked up over the strange person standing on the corner of the street, no more worrying about finding crack…

Yeah, life was good.

Horo walked out of his room, which happened to be a pantry in their one floor house. His sister and he decided it was only fair to let their mother have the only bedroom in the place, and Pirka lived in a closet. She had managed to get her hands on some magazines and had decorated her room to actually look like a normal twelve-year-old girl's room…if you ignored the clothes rack above her bed. And the fact that the room was ten times too small compared to a normal room.

Horo had smashed one wall of shelves down and the pile of wood lay ignored in a corner of his room. He didn't have a closet, so who could blame him for throwing his clothes anywhere he wanted them? He considered himself lucky that his mom could get him and his sister cell phones.

She was too worried about her children.

Horo decided to suck it up and stop complaining. He was the only man in the house anyway. He was responsible for the welfare of the place.

His father had died when he was five. The Usuis had been stable up to then, until the death. Then his mother had started two years of drinking, which didn't stop until Pirka had a breakdown and begged their mother in tears to stop. By that time, they were already in debt and were evicted. The drinking stopped and their mother started her uphill climb. After being a cashier for two years, they managed to move into a little house and were happy for a while. Then there was the break-in. After that, it was another three years of hard struggle. At that end of those three years, Horo turned thirteen and they moved to their current residence. Their mother had managed to find a steady job of being a secretary at a law firm, which happened to be the same place where Keiko Asakura also worked. The two women were friends, and finally his mother broke away from her state of depression and finally, the remaining three Usuis were finally on their feet.

Walking straight into the kitchen from his pantry/room, he saw his sister, drinking orange juice as his mother was making pancakes from pancake mix.

"Good morning, onii-chan."

The Usuis had moved from Japan to America once Horo had been born. His father's family wasn't too…well, let's say happy about their son marrying the woman they did. They didn't think a cashier was good enough for their well-off son, but he didn't let that stop true love. Once Horo was born, the Usui side of the family had cut off his father from further contact, and to escape negativity, the three had moved.

"Hey, Pirka."

Pirka, his younger sister, went to public school. He had moved so many times he had been to numerous schools. He tried the public school where Pirka went. His sister fit in perfectly. He didn't. After getting expelled for attacking another student (who had been picking on him based on his family, explaining his fury), the principal had spoken to the superintendent of Mankin High and Horo had transferred.

The reason had been simple. 'We want him to be in a positive environment. He is not a stupid child.'

Horo had a 4.0 in the public school.

"Good morning, honey."

"Morning, mom." He looked at his mother. She was smiling amiss her tangled bed head, her dark hair all over the place. Day 532 his mother woke up with a smile on her face. He was always watching his mother, praying that the day when her face would darken and a shot of brandy in her hand would never come.

He had grown up seeing that and he hoped ever to see it again.

After seeing his sister get on the school bus, Horo started his long walk to school. His family didn't have enough money to buy a car and his mother had to take public transportation to work. No bus going to Mankin High came by his street, but he didn't have a problem with that.

A car drove by and Horo noticed the driver of the car had once been part of the gang he had been in. A few days after the Usuis had moved in, Horo had gone to the nearby store to buy some food and when he was walking home, a gang had cornered him.

Horo knew the brass knuckles his sister had gotten him were pretty good.

Instead of announcing war against this new blue haired street fighter, the leader of the gang had proposed that Horo join them. If not, the gang leader had said, then his family was vulnerable against the random gangs in the neighborhood. If he joined, he reasoned, at least Horo would have some assurance that there was an alliance there to help him protect his mother and sister.

The choice was easy to make.

After the cops started the crackdown, the gang had been dismembered, but he still had friends in the neighborhood. To him, that was all the friends he needed. He didn't need any more in that new disgusting rich kid school.

"I'm Lyserg Diethyl. Is it true that you…"

Lyserg had surprised him. He thought his demeanor had screamed 'LEAVE ME THE DAMN ALONE!', but apparently, someone hadn't gotten the message. Even when he had used a bit of a threat in his explanation of himself, Lyserg didn't seem at all scared.

In fact, that boy seemed even more determined to get to know him.

So, what the hell? He decided to give these kids a try. They'd probably bolt after knowing him for a while. Except that didn't happen. Lyserg seemed even more so convinced they were great as friends and the Usui was sure he had heard a few things about his optimistic green haired friend.

Yoh didn't seem to care, the slacked stoner. Horo had asked if Yoh had ever done drugs, and the boy had just laughed. Strange, but reliable.

Ren…he was something different.

Horo had grown used to living in a dark lit world full of ugliness. He didn't like using the metaphor, but Ren was like a ray of light in his darkened life. A flicker of beauty in his shadowy life. Yes, Lyserg wasn't too shabby in the looks department, but Ren was different.

After Lyserg had practically announced that Horo was now their friend, he and Yoh had somehow disappeared and Horo was left with Ren.

"So, Ren…"

Ren turned to him, looking bored. The boy didn't look at all interested in becoming friends. "What?"

"What do you think about us being 'friends'?" Horo shrugged. "Do you really want to hang out with a former gangster?"

Ren rolled his eyes. "Oh please. I could beat your ass if I tried. Besides, if you're Yoh's friend, then you're mine too."

"Just like that?"

"Is that idea too complex for your head?" Ren shook his head. "I heard people who are all beating and shit like that aren't smart at all. I guess they were right."

"Hey, I resent that." Horo cracked his knuckles threateningly. Of course, he didn't want to pick a fight with this kid. The boy was smaller than him, and that would be unethical. However, Ren turned to him, a smirk on his face.

"Bring it on, sucker."

Before anything could actually happen, though, Yoh and Lyserg appeared again, breaking the tension. Horo had decided then and there that he and Ren were friends and rivals. They'd hang out and at the same time, be at each other's throats.

So now why did he like the kid? Like, like-like the kid?

Before he was ready to kill killorbekilled, defend everything he had at all costs. So why did now, if Ren had asked him to, could he drop everything he was just to become the person someone else wanted him to be?

Annoying, annoying, annoying.

Ren wasn't trying to be, but when Horo really watched, the Tao's every movement seemed to say 'come hither'. Horo figured it was just another enemy-turned-lover situation, like in the movies.

Those sappy, chic-flic movies. God, he was getting soft.

He was just reaching the front doors of Mankin High when he felt someone grab his arm. He turned to see Lyserg, looking quite happy for a Monday morning.

"Hey, Horo! How was your weekend?"

"It was okay."

Despite Lyserg's constant perkiness and optimism, Horo couldn't find him annoying. Maybe because Lyserg sometimes reminded him of Pirka. And Lyserg was sometimes so cute he couldn't be mad at him. Lyserg liked using his looks to make others bend to his will.

Subtle, evil, and efficient.

But Horo was never interested in Lyserg in that way.

"I like your camouflage Berms."

Horo looked down. He was wearing camouflage Bermudas, something Pirka had somehow gotten her hands on. "It's the newest style, go, wear it!" she had said.

"Thanks." Horo ignored the sunny smile Lyserg gave him. They were friends, but Lyserg wasn't his type.

Lyserg was too optimistic. Life wasn't all happy-happy joy-joy. Lyserg was just hiding from reality with his optimism. Horo needed someone who understood that life sucked sometimes, that sometimes you can sink so low you can barely crawl out.

Ren understood that.

"My dad was in the mob for a short time, you know that?"

Horo and Ren were watching Yoh and Lyserg from the school gates. The two had been held back since they had volunteered to help at some expo for the school. This was a few weeks after Horo had transferred.

"Why would I want to know that?"

Ren shrugged. "I'm just saying I understand what you went through."

And that was that. Ren wouldn't say anything else, but Horo understood. The mob was worse than the juvenile gang. There was an older kid in his gang who had been in the mob once. It was an unmentionable subject in the gang, and it must have left the same scars on Ren as it did on the unlucky member.

That unlucky member committed suicide a few days later. Horo attended his funeral and thought he saw Ren standing on the outskirts of the graveyard, but he wasn't sure.

Horo was constantly surrounded by death.

Lyserg was sitting next to him, yammering on about something he wasn't listening to. At that moment, Ren had come in and was currently talking to Yoh. Even from across the room, Ren seemed to be calling him.

Someday, he'd answer it. Someday.

"I know you'll like it here, Mr. Asakura."

"Thank you. I think I'll like it here too."

"You're in the same class as your brother, you know."

"Really? I haven't seen him in years. I'd like to know what he looks like."

"So you've been separated from your brother? Why have you suddenly come?"

"Family business. Not pretty at all."

"Ah. I won't pry then. Your classroom is in here. Class should be starting soon. Do you need anything else?"

"Oh, no, I'll be fine. I can manage on my own."

"Have a good day, Mr. Asakura."

Hao smirked. He would…he would.

Note: I have actually all of this fanfic typed up…it depends on my mood to update it. For all who actually read this, today is a big day! It's my first double update! Why, you ask? Because like I said, I already have the whole thing on my computer, and I'm just building suspense by not putting them all up at the same time! Second, depending on the reviews, I will or will not start typing my second arc of the Mankin Side of Life. Yes, I already have an idea for the second part.

Second Note: hopefully this shed a few glimmers of light on Horo's past. Next chapter…HAO IS INTRODUCTED (but not in as much detail…sorry.)


	5. Past and Present

**Disclaimer: If Shaman King were mine, I wouldn't need to write fanfics.**

Background music: ---------

Not another school story, you say! Please, spare us! I would love to, but my invisible writing stalker won't let me! I promise I will skip over the dramatic shonen-ai shojo version, since I know probably no guys would actually do that, but there will shonen-ai! Pairings are still up in the air, but please know the love square before flaming me. The pairings I suggest may or may not be there in the end. And yes, there will be an end!

Chapter 5 – Past and Present

"Class…class, settle down!"

Everyone instantly took their seats as the homeroom teacher bustled in. Mr. Amidamaru kept his homeroom in line for the ten minutes they spent in it. He was pretty lenient as they came, taking attendance and letting the students be on their way. Today, he seemed excited though.

"Boys and girls…" The class snickered. Amidamaru continued, running his fingers through his silver hair. Not white, though. No one would say it was white. "I am proud to introduce you to a new student in Mankin High! He will be attending his homeroom. I hope you all give him a warm welcome. Mr. Asakura, I think you'll be able to recognize him."

Everyone turned to Yoh, who looked startled.

"Mr. Asakura, you may enter."

Yoh stood up, confused, but at the same time, the homeroom door opened and someone entered. Someone looking quite casual and at home. The new student who had long dark brown hair, the same school uniform with the aqua tie undone and hanging loosely around his neck like a scarf. He surveyed the class and his gaze fell instantly on the only one standing: Yoh.

"Hey, utouto. How's it going?"

Everyone turned to Yoh again, who sat down with a confused look on his face. Lyserg glanced at Yoh next to him…Yoh had mentioned a twin, but it was something Yoh was uncomfortable discussing so it was never brought up. So this was the infamous

"Class, this is Hao Asakura. He has arrived from Japan and yes, he _is _Yoh's brother."

Everyone turned forward as Hao raised his hand as greeting. "It's nice to meet all you chums."

"Please take a seat behind Ren." Amidamaru gestured toward the back corner of the room, behind Ren. Ren glared at Hao as the older Asakura walked toward him. Yoh didn't like talking about his family, and he could tell by Yoh's expression that this Hao person wasn't someone to be welcomed.

Hao paused for a moment. Alright, so the kid in front of him had a problem with him. Okay, that was okay.

After attendance and announcements were made, the whole class was dismissed. Girls gathered in groups to rate this newcomer; boys began looking over this new person in consideration. Cliques were already formed, no matter what all the teachers said about a 'friendly, unbiased student body'. Newcomers were instantly rated, then snatched by the group who wanted them.

At the moment, the clique with most potential on claiming Hao was the one with Lyserg and Yoh. Lyserg was the well known welcome wagon and Yoh was his brother, for gods sake!

And as they spoke, Lyserg had grabbed Yoh's arm and dragged him over to Hao. "Hello! My name's Lyserg Diethyl!"

"Well, aren't you the cutie?" Hao smirked. "Yoh, you have good taste."

Yoh felt his face flush and Lyserg dropped his arm. "Oh, we're not going out," Lyserg said, looking confused.

"Good. Then maybe we have a chance." Hao stood up slowly.

"Are you coming on to me?" Lyserg asked, his eyes looking amused.

"Maybe."

"Anyway, do you want to maybe hang out with us?" Lyserg turned and gestured to Yoh, then to Horo and Ren, who were standing back at a distance. "You know…cause you're new?"

"I don't like him," Ren spat. Horo, who was next to him, turned to face him. They were standing a few desks away, watching everything.

"You just don't like him because Yoh's uncomfortable talking about it," Horo said, smirking.

"Shut up!" Ren pouted. Horo was the only one who had noticed that he liked Yoh. Lyserg was oblivious to it, as was Yoh. Of course it would be Horo who noticed; the guy liked him.

The day of eighth grade graduation…

"Hey, Ren!" Horo ran up to Ren, wearing the blue graduation gown. "Ren, what are you doing after the party?"

Ren turned and shrugged. The gown was too big for him and he looked like a child wearing his parents' clothes. Looking utterly cute, to Horo. "I don't know. Why?"

"I was wondering…do you…maybe want to hang out with me?" Horo scratched his head, his hand fumbling around the certificate of graduation.

Ren started at him. "Are you asking me out?"

"No!" Horo's face was looking flushed. "Well…maybe…I don't know…if you want to…"

"You're not making sense," Ren said, smiling to himself. He got exactly where Horo was heading, but he wanted to torture that Usui. It was fun.

"Look…I like you alright?" Horo said, rushing past his confession. "I was wondering…maybe after the party…we could grab something to…eat…maybe?"

"You sound like a girl," Ren teased, putting his hands on his hips. "You sound exactly like a little girl!"

"Shut up!" Horo looked like he was ready to pelt Ren with his certificate. "If you're rejecting me, I can take it!"

"Well, I sure hope so, because I'm not interested. Sorry." Ren shrugged. "We can still be friends. I like you as a friend, Horo. Let's not make things awkward."

And now, their friendship. The rivalry had been an on-and-off thing, since Ren could tell Horo didn't want to be on bad terms with him. Sometimes it was awkward, but Ren was working to make their friendship work. He didn't want to have to feel like he had to watch what he did, in case Horo started coming on to him again. He was interested in Yoh.

Meanwhile…

"Well, thanks for the offer, Lyseg."

"Lyserg."

"Hmm. Right. I'll take the offer. Only cause you're so cute and you know my utouto." Lyserg rolled his eyes at Hao's flirtation. "Alright, as long as we're clear about that."

As Hao went forward to get to know the other members of the group, Lyserg turned to Yoh. "Should I not have done that?"

"It was inevitable," Yoh mumbled. "He was bound to come to me anyway."

"Are you mad at me?"

"No. Of course not. It's who you are." Yoh looked up and gave Lyserg a smile. "Alright, let's get to know my brother, okay?"

Lyserg signed in relief. He'd hate it if Yoh was mad at him. Yoh was those kinds of people who would still talk to you after an argument, but you could tell that he was mad at you. It made the greenette feel bad to be at the receiving end of Yoh's mature anger and he was glad the Asakura wasn't mad at him.

"Hey, chums. You're Horo and you're Ren, am I right?" Hao pointed to Ren and Horo respectively.

"_I'm_ Ren," Ren said. "And _he's_ Horo."

"Oh, my bad." Hao looked them over. "Are _you_ two going out?"

"No!" Ren felt his face heat up and he could feel Horo's eyes on him. "Why would you think that?"

"I don't know. If Lyserg and my brother aren't hooked up and you two aren't going out with anyone…you guys are _boring_."

"Are you_ gay_ or something?" Ren accused.

"Heh. You wish." Hao laughed. "I'm whatever you want me to be, Renny boy. Gay, bi, straight, whatever. You can find love in everyone. The girl on the street, the guy at the bus station, your neighbor's dog…" Hao trailed off for a moment. "But enough about me. Tell me about you!"

"I'm Ren Tao and I'm already disliking you more and more."

"I'm Horokeu Usui and I apologize for my friend's immaturity."

"Horo!"

"Apology accepted!" Hao smiled. "I take it you're a street fighter?"

Horo stared at him. "How did you know?"

"First of all, you have a scar on your knee, and it looks like a key mark. Someone was using temporary brass knuckles on you, huh? Second, anyone in a gang has a certain look to them. I'm surprised you didn't recognize it."

"Yeah, I did. I figured you'd been in a few fights. You look like you clean up well after it."

"Of course I do!" Hao said, looking offended. "What kind of person would I be if I didn't clean the blood off my hands when I was done!" He flipped his long hair. "You have to look good while beating the shit out of someone, you know."

"What are temporary brass knuckles?" Ren asked.

"Oh…I see we have a nice little boy in our midst."

"He lives in that big mansion on the hill."

"Does he now?"

"Can anyone answer my question?" Ren asked, feeling annoyed. Hao and Horo were getting along pretty well and he felt excluded from their conversation.

"It's when you put keys in between your fingers," Horo explained. "It's a pretty good defense. It hurts like hell."

"You should remember that," Hao added. "You look like you could get beat up pretty bad."

Ren glared at him as Yoh and Lyserg came up to them.

"It's time for class, Hao."

"Why are you here, Hao?"

Hao looked up. It was lunch time and he had followed Yoh up onto the roof. It was forbidden for students to hang out there, but Yoh was a careful guy. The younger twin was leaning against a pipe and looking out at the campus.

"Do you really want to know?"

"Yeah. Mikihisa wouldn't just show up for no good reason and bring you here."

"Dad's not a bad person," Hao shrugged, sitting cross-legged next to Yoh. "He was just a little misguided, that's all."

"So why is he here?"

Hao smiled and said nothing.

"Ms. Asakura…someone's here to visit you."

Keiko looked up from her desk. Her secretary, Ms. Usui was peeking through her door. "Who is it?"

"The gentleman said you would know the moment you saw him. He says he requires no introduction."

Keiko thought she felt a familiar headache come on. "Can you describe him to me, Kimi?"

"Um…well…he doesn't look dangerous," Kimi Usui said slowly. "It's hard to explain. He says he wants to see you very bad."

Keiko closed her eyes. "Did you tell him I was busy?"

"He said you'd find time for him."

"Fine. Let him in."

Kimi pulled her head out. "You can enter."

Keiko dropped the papers she was holding as her visitor came to see her. The man in front of her was wearing a bad suit, with his long hair tied back in a ponytail and glasses. There was a scar on his cheek.

"Mikihisa," Keiko spit.

"Keiko. It's been a long time."

Lyserg waved to Ren who was riding away in a Tao family car (you couldn't miss the advertisement on the side), then turned to Horo.

"Be careful walking home, Horo."

"When do I not?" Horo shook his head, as if disappointed Lyserg would think such a thing. "See you."

"See you!" Lyserg watched him walk away for a minute before turning and running back to Yoh. "Do you mind if I come over today?"

"I don't see why not. My mom won't mind." Secretly, Yoh was hoping Lyserg would come over today. He could actually have an excuse to stare at the pretty greenette while talking about his brother. Excuse? He meant reason.

"And I don't think she'd mind if I came too."

The two turned to Hao, who was coming up behind them. "Hey, utouto. Hey cutie."

"I have a name."

"I know. But cutie's more appropriate."

Lyserg gave up.

"Don't you have a home?" Yoh asked, frowning. He was hoping his brother wouldn't be there.

"Um…well, I'm not sure. Dad said he'd find us a place to stay, but we've been living in a car for the past few days."

Lyserg snickered.

"Laugh all you want, cutie. I know you still think I'm sexy no matter where I wake up."

"Exactly," Lyserg said sarcastically, rolling his eyes.

Yoh shrugged. He didn't expect Hao to get off his back. Hao seemed excited at the fact of catching up with his long lost brother. He had practically blasted across the school that he was looking forward to some brotherly bonding.

Ag.

The walk home was uneventful. Lyserg was constantly trying to fight off Hao's flirting, and Yoh wasn't sure if he should tell Hao to stop. Hao would definitely ask why and Yoh wasn't risking saying anything. Lyserg liked Horo, and it wasn't in his nature to make things awkward. So he just watched as Hao came on to Lyserg.

"Hey, cutie. Are you interested in anyone at the moment?"

Lyserg paused. "Yes…"

"Who?" Hao smirked. "Is it my utouto?"

Lyserg glared at him. "Yoh is my _friend._ He's my best friend, that's it. Of course you wouldn't know; you probably don't even know what a friend is, seeing as you probably never had any!"

"Whoa! So little Lyserg can get pretty harsh, can he? Well…you can give me as much lip as you want…as long as it includes these." Hao brushed Lyserg's lips with his finger.

"Hands to yourself, Hao. Didn't you learn that in kindergarten?" Lyserg slapped Hao's hand away.

"I didn't go to kindergarten." Hao smirked. "The teachers couldn't handle me, but I went to first grade anyway since I was too smart for the babies."

"Uh oh." Yoh turned into his driveway and spotted a pickup truck. "Who's visiting now?"

Hao looked at the truck with interest. "Why don't we go inside and find out?"

"My mom's not supposed to be home so early," Yoh continued.

"Maybe something happened?" Lyserg said, sounding worried.

"Look, children, if we never go inside, we won't find out, alright?" Hao rolled his eyes and reached for the door.

Yoh stopped short the moment he reached the living room. Keiko was sitting on the sofa, looking positively livid, facing someone across from her in the lazy boy. Yoh hadn't seen this person in…god, many years, but even with such a long time of not seeing him, Yoh recognized him. Recognized him from the pictures Keiko burnt many years ago on the stove.

"Dad."

"Yoh! It's good to see you looking so well!" Mikihisa looked happy to see his younger son. "Keiko's been raising you well!"

"Of course I am. I don't even want to see the twin _you_ raised."

"Hey mom!"

Keiko looked up and the angry expression flickered on her face for a moment. Her other son…the son she had not seen for years on end…god, he looked like a mirror of Yoh. He had a genuine smile on his face and quite a charming demeanor.

"Hello, Hao…" she said slowly. "How are you?"

"I'm doing pretty good, thank you!" Hao said, sounding strangely polite. Yoh and Lyserg exchanged amused looks as Hao turned on the charm. Probably trying to earn brownie points for Mikihisa no doubt. Keiko wasn't going to fall for that. She turned her glare back onto Mikihisa.

"Mickey, I admit your son is quite well, but that doesn't explain _your_ past."

Mikihisa sighed. "I was hoping we could put that off until later…if you want to talk about it now, can we talk in private?"

Keiko nodded, looking still angry. "Boys, could you give us some privacy?"

"Oh, yeah. Come on." Yoh beckoned to the stairs to Lyserg and Hao. Lyserg instantly followed the younger twin, while Hao lingered for a moment.

"Personally, I hope you forgive him," Hao said quietly. "This is completely off the record, but dad's been a complete ass but he's changed, mom, I…"

"Hao," Mikihisa said threateningly. Hao shrugged and followed Yoh out of the living room.

"Being quite the suck up, aren't we?" Lyserg said, as the three walked up the stairs to Yoh's room.

"It helps," Hao said shortly. "Besides, I don't think I'm the only one wondering what would have happened if this dysfunctional family stayed together." He looked pointedly at Yoh's back.

"This is my room," Yoh said, interrupting Hao. He pointed into the messy room he called home. Lyserg bounced onto Yoh's bed as Hao collapsed into a pile of clothes. "Homey, Yoh. Homey."

"Oh shut up." Yoh closed the doors and sat down on his desk chair. Hao fingered the electric guitar on the ground.

"Yoh, are you in a band or something?"

"Or something," Yoh said. "Me, Ren, Horo, and Lyserg are trying to whip something up."

"Reeally? What do you do?" Hao asked, turning to Lyserg.

"I do vocals. Yoh's acoustic, Horo's bass, and Ren's drums."

"God. A goddamn band." Hao whistled, impressed. "Sing a little for me, angel."

Lyserg glared at him. "I'm thinking that Ren was right in saying you're a total ass."

"Hey, I'm just saying."

Yoh sighed. "Can we not argue for once in your lives? Hao, can't you handle not picking a fight with my friends?"

Hao shrugged. "I can't help it. Some people just hate me. Assholes who say I'm a total animal raised without morals since I lived with just my dad."

Silence.

Hao smiled an injured smirk. "But what do I know? I may as well be."

Yoh didn't say anything. People who had wanted to be spiteful had said he was a softie since he had been raised by his mother only. Lyserg had put an end to that immediately. Yoh hated arguing with others about his family. It was a sore subject. It looked the same to Hao.

"You're not," Lyserg said, looking a little sad.

"I'm glad you think so, cutie."

"Stop calling me that."

"I'm sorry. Your body asks for it." Hao whistled. Lyserg rolled his eyes. "God, Hao, I swear you're horny 24/7."

"You make me."

"God. Go to the bathroom if you already have a boner." Lyserg smirked. "Yoh, I have to go to the bathroom. Try and control your brother, won't you?"

"Alright." Yoh watched as Lyserg opened the door and sighed a little as the greenette closed the door behind him.

"God, utouto. You're so cute. If you really want him, tell him so."

Yoh jumped and turned to Hao. "What?"

"Yoh, it's completely obvious you're head over heels for Lyserg. It's just so cute how you watch over him. You know, I wasn't just testing you when I was flirting with him. If you don't want him, I'll take him."

"No…" Yoh frowned. "It's just…he already likes someone else."

Hao raised his eyebrow. "Who?"

"Horo."

"Phssh." Hao chuckled. "That boy likes Ren. You can tell it in his eyes. They're just like yours when you look at Lyserg. It takes one look for an outsider to know everything. Let's map it out: you want in Lyserg's pants, while he likes Horo, who wants to do Ren. God, it's so scandalous!" Hao decided to leave out Ren's part. Nothing Yoh needed to know.

"Not so loud, goddammit," Yoh hissed. He glanced at the door. "I don't want him to know."

"Why the hell not?"

"He'll get all awkward around me. He just thinks I'm his friend, didn't you hear him?" Yoh sighed. "You might think it's stupid and I'm stifling my feelings or whatever shit, but I think it's better this way."

Hao shrugged. "Just trying to help."

There was a silence. Then "Yoh, do you think mom and dad might get back together again?"

"I hope not. She was super pissed at him, still is. He must be a total asshole to have done that to her; she's pretty tolerant." Yoh stopped as he noticed the look Hao was giving him. "No offense, though."

"None taken." Hao shrugged, something he seemed a natural at doing. Shrugging off duty, shrugging off responsibility, shrugging off blame. "I don't blame you…he _was _a total ass. But he's changed."

"What makes you think that?"

Hao looked at Yoh. "Utouto, I have a lot to tell you. Something about the past and present, something you need to know."

"I'm listening."

At that moment, the doorknob turned and Lyserg opened the door. Hao gave Yoh a 'I'll tell you later' look as a familiar flirty smirk crossed his face again. "Oh, cutie, you done fixing your boner over me?"

"Ew. Just looking at you makes me want to be abstinent forever."

Hao looked mock offended. "Jeez, Lyserg. If you really feel like that, I guess I'll have to resort to rape."

"Ew. Yoh!"

Yoh rolled his eyes. "Hao, _stop_, alright?" For both Lyserg and _his_ sake.

Note: yes, in this chapter, I reveal another coupling in this love square…except it's not related in any which way! The Asakura parents…who'da thunk it?! Rate and Review, PLEASE! Slight references to the abridged mankin series by headphoneneko and Phantom of the Opera…sorry.


	6. A Few Discussions

**Disclaimer: If Shaman King were mine, I wouldn't need to write fanfics.**

Background music: ------

Not another school story, you say! Please, spare us! I would love to, but my invisible writing stalker won't let me! I promise I will skip over the dramatic shonen-ai shojo version, since I know probably no guys would actually do that, but there will shonen-ai! Pairings are still up in the air, but please know the love square before flaming me. The pairings I suggest may or may not be there in the end. And yes, there will be an end!

Beginning Note: there is some tension in the Asakura parents, along with a slight HoroxRen and some LysergxYoh. Just a reminder/warning.

Chapter 6 – A Few Discussions

Lyserg hadn't really wanted to go the bathroom. He had planned on listening in to the two talking, to see what they had to say after a reunion after so long. Once he closed the door, though, he heard Mikihisa and Keiko talking in the living room and curiosity made him tiptoe downstairs.

"I swear, Keiko, I've changed."

"Oh really? Do you expect me to think that one little accident is really going to change you?" Keiko sounded super pissed. As mad as when Yoh had snuck back home after curfew. Maybe even madder. Keiko hadn't trusted Yoh with curfew a few weeks afterwards.

"Please…Keiko. You know I wouldn't come back if I didn't really mean it."

"Oh, that's right. Just because of that incident, you've suddenly thought back to your life and decide to go right your wrongs! You've finally realized what a wonderful wife I've been! You want to come crawling back to me!" There was a loud clang where Keiko had set, no slammed, her tea cup down. "Well, what makes you think I'll let you back in my life!"

"Shh, Keiko, the boys are upstairs."

"Let them hear!" Keiko's voice started to lower. "Mikihisa, I gave you chance after chance. It's a wonder you didn't even cheat on me. You'd just come home absolutely wasted, and you were a bad influence on the twins! Yes, they were only one, but if you stayed any longer, you'd have ruined them! Simply ruined them!" Keiko's voice was shaking with rage. "I told you, begged you, ordered you to stop, but did you? No! Then you started the abuse! Yes, you might say it wasn't physical abuse, but verbal abuse hurts a lot more, Mickey!"

"I'm sorry, Keiko…"

"Sorry doesn't cut it anymore! If maybe you apologized thirteen years ago, I would have forgiven you, but you didn't! You didn't change! You continued to drink and you were always calling in sick! We were going to fall into debt because of you! I couldn't stand putting the twins in that kind of situation! That's why I kicked you out! Divorced you! For not only my good, but for the good of Yoh and Hao!"

"Keiko, did you hear me, I know what I did wrong, I love…"

"Oh don't you use the l word with me, Mickey! I did love you! I loved you more than everything, everyone, you ass! That's why I married you! The first five years were wonderful! I'm not going to lie! But then we had the twins and then you were laid off and you started that awful habit! It was hard, harder than anything, Mickey, to fall out of love with you! But you gave me no choice! I think even when I divorced you, I still loved you, since I let you take one of the twins! I was ready to take full custody of both of them, but you had to ask me to give you one more chance, to show that you could raise one of our children well off. Wanted to have something to hold onto from our failed marriage! Well, I gave you that chance, didn't I? Yes, Hao is good, he's a good kid, but that does not mean you're suddenly exempt from blame!"

"Keiko, I've been sober for a year…"

"Good for you, Mickey, but we're over. We've been over for a long, long time." There was a pause.

Mikihisa took that opportunity. "Keiko, I haven't been seeing anyone since the divorce," he said quietly. "No one I met matched up to you. No one was as good as you were."

"Thank you." This sounded strained.

"I've had thirteen years to think about it, Keiko. I know what I did wrong. I've changed. Let me show it to you. Please, I know you can find it in your heart to forgive me. I'm not asking you to take me back – I just want you to forgive me."

"Hmm."

"Last time we saw each other was five years ago in Detroit." Lyserg made a mental note of that. Yoh had told him his mother was away on business five years ago. Yoh had stayed with him that week. "I saw you, and I tried to talk to you but you wouldn't listen…I couldn't help it, Keiko, I was starting to break my habit then and I was under a lot of stress, I didn't mean to snap at you like I did…"

"You couldn't control yourself for five minutes," Keiko sniffed. "I had to leave; you were threatening me. They had to restrain you. And you're wondering why I left you."

"Keiko."

"What?"

"All I'm asking is for you to hear me out. I only told you the top of the story, just from mentioning the accident. Please, Keiko, I need you to listen to thirteen years of struggle."

"Don't play the martyr."

"Alright, I won't. Please, though, listen to me. Can I buy you dinner Friday night? Please. Just one night. If you don't consider it after Friday, I'll go. I'll leave Hao with you. I'll disappear from your life. All I'm asking is for one night. Only one night."

There was a long silence. Then "Alright, _fine_. You promise you'll give me Hao if I still refuse?"

"I promise."

Across town, Horo's head popped up as he heard the door open.

"Hello, welcome to Burger Hut, how may I…oh, hey, Ren."

"Hey, Horo. You've really become so poor you have to work in an American sweat shop?" Ren looked amused as he sauntered up to the counter, staring the bluenette in the eye. God, Horo looked like such an idiot with that stupid paper hat.

"No. You've known I've had this job for a long time. I pulled a few strings with the boss so I could help support the family. We have to pay a downright evil rent even for the shack we live in."

"All you have to do is ask." Ren leaned across the counter. "I could lend you some money."

Horo snorted. "Yeah, then I'd have to be your personal slave."

"You wouldn't find it that bad, would you now?" Ren said, smirking. He knew exactly how to push Horo's buttons. Already, the boy behind the counter was already blushing fiercely.

"You're evil, you know that?" Horo said, trying to calm himself. Seriously, sometimes he thought Ren just provoked him for fun. Now he was just ready to jump the boy.

"Yes, I am. Now what do I want?" Ren pretended to look at the menu above Horo's head while sticking out his tongue to lick his finger. God, he could be downright malicious. He saw Horo's face change slightly from his peripheral vision…

"Usui! You're paid to work not to converse!"

"Got it," Horo hissed, looking annoyed. He really needed a cold shower at the moment. Ren smirked, knowing he'd done his job in totally pissing off the cashier. He leaned across the counter again. "Well, I guess I don't want to eat anything. See you later, idiot."

"Okay. I'll see you later." Horo leaned in, lightly knocking his forehead against Ren's. His breath was warm against Ren's, and he thought he saw something change in the smaller boy's eyes. Instantly leaping away, Ren quickly left, a hint of a blush on his face.

Horo smirked. Score one for Usui!

Hao and Mikihisa left a few minutes after the adults were done talking. Keiko was in a pretty bad mood so Yoh decided to stay in his room. Not to mention Lyserg was there too. Not that that was the only reason…cause it wasn't…

"Why are you still here?" Yoh asked as he closed the door. Lyserg was lying on his back on Yoh's bed, reading Shonen Jump.

"My mom's at a book club," Lyserg said, glancing at the clock on the desk. Four fifteen. "She doesn't leave until five, and my dad doesn't get off his shift until eight. So I'd be home alone. I think I'd rather spend it here, hmm?" He started reading again.

Yoh didn't say anything and collapsed on the same clothes pile Hao was sitting in a few minutes ago. There was a silence in the room. Yoh forced his mind out of the gutter as Lyserg started talking again. No, he wasn't just imagining himself lying next to Lyserg! All lies!

"So…what's the deal with Hao?"

Yoh stared at the boy on his bed. "What do you mean?"

"What do I mean?" Lyserg flipped the page. "You haven't seen your twin brother in over thirteen years or something and now suddenly he's in your class? Care to share your feelings?"

"What are you, my psychiatrist?"

"That was one of my 'What I Want To Be When I Grow Up's, you know."

"God, Lyserg, only you would think about that when everyone else was like, 'Oh, cop, fireman, CEO' in first grade. Then you come up with 'psychiatrist'."

"Yeah, yeah, enough about me. I know how magnificent I am. What about you?"

_You are magnificent_. "I don't know…I never thought about meeting Hao, so I really don't have anything planned on how he was supposed to be like. So…"

Lyserg glanced at him. "God, you even sit like him. You guys _are _related." Lyserg sighed and put the magazine down. "At least you don't have a dirty mind like he does."

Yoh knew better than to contradict that sentence. He picked up the electric guitar and started strumming it thoughtfully.

"You suck, Yoh. When was the last time you practiced?"

"What are you, my band mother?"

Lyserg smirked. "Yup. Don't do drugs, keep it clean, don't drink, all that shit."

"You shouldn't be talking. Why wouldn't you sing for Hao?"

"He'd jump me. Besides, I don't like singing for strangers."

Lyserg sat up. He watched Yoh play for a moment. "Yoh, you _really_ suck."

"If Horo sucked at bass, would you say so?" Yoh shot back.

Lyserg smiled, pretending he was trying to hide it. "Of course not. Because he doesn't."

Yoh stopped and looked up. "Of course he doesn't. Horo's _perfect_, isn't he? That's why you like him."

"Yoh, where ever did you get that idea?"

Yoh smirked. "And compared to him, I am nothing; I suck at guitar, I suck at school, I suck at life."

"Precisely!"

"Oh, Lyserg, you're gonna get it!" Yoh tossed his guitar to the side (another scratch) and jumped Lyserg. The greenette laughed as Yoh collided with him and did his best to fend off the Asakura, who was fake wrestling with him.

"Oh, mercy, mercy!" Lyserg shouted sarcastically. "Come on, Yoh, you could beat me up better than that."

"I just don't want to," Yoh laughed. He had his arms around the younger boy and sat up, straddling Lyserg. "And that's why, after years of hurtful words, you're still the beautiful little child you were before."

Lyserg laughed. "You called me beautiful, Yoh! Didn't you know it's offensive to call a guy beautiful? Personally, I prefer good-looking, or maybe smokin'!"

"But you _are_ beautiful," Yoh insisted, leaning forward. Lyserg gulped. Maybe it was just him, but suddenly the atmosphere had become awkward. Yoh was closer, much closer, than before, and the greenette could feel Yoh's breath on his face and their noses were almost touching. Blaming on his sudden racing heart on pure hormones, Lyserg bit his lip. "Yoh…?"

Yoh knocked his forehead against Lyserg's, hard.

"Ow."

"You're _sooo_ beautiful," Yoh laughed, jumping off Lyserg. "So very _beautiful_. And you're right. You should take it offensively."

"Hey! That's not how it works!" Lyserg called as Yoh just kept laughing and walked out of the room. He didn't find the situation funny and waited patiently for his heart to slow down. That was _way_ too close…what was Yoh thinking? More importantly, why was he thinking of Yoh?

Yoh sighed as he closed the door to the bathroom. Hao was right in a way…someone was fixing a boner.

Note: the next chapter is probably a bit longer than this one…it includes the dinner date, movie night, and more than one boy getting drunk by the end of the day! Exciting! Stay tuned!


	7. Friday Night Lights

**Disclaimer: If Shaman King were mine, I wouldn't need to write fanfics.**

Background music: our lawyer made us change the name of this song so we didn't get sued - FOB

Not another school story, you say! Please, spare us! I would love to, but my invisible writing stalker won't let me! I promise I will skip over the dramatic shonen-ai shojo version, since I know probably no guys would actually do that, but there will shonen-ai! Pairings are still up in the air, but please know the love square before flaming me. The pairings I suggest may or may not be there in the end. And yes, there will be an end!

Chapter 7 – Friday Night Lights

Friday rolled around faster than expected for Keiko. Before she knew it, she was sitting in front of a mirror, compacts and make up in front of her. She turned to the dress laid out on the bed. She hadn't been thinking when she reached into the closet and was surprised when she pulled out the same little black dress she had worn on the celebration dinner she and Mickey had gone to when they found out she was pregnant with twins. A few months later, after a hard labor and a few days of fatigue, Mikihisa was laid off and all their problems began.

"I don't know why I'm dressing up for," Keiko muttered to herself, dabbing foundation on. Well…maybe it was because Mikihisa had gotten them reservations to a swanky restaurant in the city. So maybe she ought to dress up.

A few minutes later, Keiko was admiring herself in the full length closet mirror. She had done her hair up, her make up was flawless, and the dress still looked stunning on her. She didn't run everyday for nothing! God, she could still turn many heads.

"You look good, mom."

Keiko turned to the door, where Yoh and Lyserg were watching her. "Oh, hello boys."

"You look pretty, Ms. Asakura," Lyserg said, smiling. He knew exactly when to say certain things and Keiko was flattered.

"Mom, are you trying?"

"Of course not," Keiko said quickly. "It's just…it's a very fancy restaurant and I need to look good."

"Ah." Yoh and Lyserg exchanged looks and Keiko was suddenly annoyed that the two had grown up together.

Yoh wondered if his mother was considering Miki a chance. Lyserg had told him the conversation between his parents after he had settled down that Monday. They wondered what the accident could possibly be, but without Hao to verify what it really was, the conversation was going nowhere and Lyserg left. Not to mention it got steadily more awkward anyway. At least now everything was back to normal with a don't ask don't tell policy.

"Are you two going to be okay home alone?" Keiko asked pointedly, glancing at Yoh. Yoh rolled his eyes as Lyserg frowned. "No, we're going to have a movie night with Horo, Ren, and Hao. So we're not going to be alone."

"Ah." Keiko nodded as the doorbell rang. "Well, there's Mickey!" she announced, walking past her son and his friend on her way to the door, nearly tripping down the stairs in her nylons.

"Are you sure she doesn't want to get back with your dad?" Lyserg asked quietly as they followed her down the stairs. Yoh shrugged.

Keiko opened the door and nearly dropped the purse she was holding.

Mikihisa was…well, stunning, actually. He was wearing a nice suit with a rose corsage pinned on it. He was clean-shaven and actually looked quite dressed up. He reminded her of the man she had fallen in love with many years ago.

"You look beautiful," Mikihisa said, smiling. "Just like when we met."

"Well, I'm glad I look beautiful one day of the year," Keiko said sarcastically, trying to redeem herself for her slight slip from grace. "You look handsome," she added curtly, trying not to show any emotion. But secretly, she was starting to scold herself mentally for wavering in her determination to bowl this man down.

"Thank you." Mikihisa removed the corsage with one swift motion and gently pinned it near the collar of the black dress. Keiko felt her face heat up slightly. She wasn't used to such closeness from a man. It had been thirteen years since she actually was with one, so what did you expect!

"Hey, mom! You look awesome!" Breaking the mood, Hao peeked out from behind his dad. He was wearing a total contrast to his dad: baggy dark blue jeans, a tight dark red shirt with a stripe of stars running across the front, and Converse. In other words, he looked like a total player.

"Hao, you're here!" Lyserg and Yoh suddenly appeared behind Keiko, startling her slightly. Lyserg had a big smile on his face, looking totally, utterly welcome while Yoh just looked relieved, as if he had expected Hao not to show up.

"Hey, cutie, miss me?" Hao slipped into the house, grabbing Lyserg around the shoulders and dragging him deeper into the house. Yoh gave him mom an encouraging smile before following them.

"They seem happy," Mikihisa said.

"Hmm." Keiko looked up at her ex-husband. "Well…are we going to do this or what?"

"After you, then," Mikihisa said, stepping aside to let Keiko out. Once his ex-wife had stepped onto the doorstep, he glanced down. "You may want to put some shoes on first."

Blushing embarrassedly, Keiko slammed her purse into Mikihisa before stomping into the house to find her black heels. He chuckled. If he'd been able to distract her into getting so flustered like this, he probably had a chance.

He turned to the driveway, where a car had just driven up. Noticing the large Tao Corp symbol on the side, Mikihisa raised his eyebrows as two boys came out of it and it looked like they were arguing.

"You know, just because you base everything on wealth doesn't mean you can call me stupid all the time."

"I can't help it, you just ask for it."

"What if I called you a spoiled, arrogant rich bitch?"

"Well, I'd say at least you could rhyme," the smaller boy smirked. The other huffed and looked about to push the other into the shrubbery when he looked up and spotted Mikihisa. He grabbed the other boy's wrist and started whispering something in his ear. The other boy, obviously the Tao of the pair, looked over at Mikihisa and nodded.

The two walked up to Mikihisa, cautiously as if the man was going to pelt them with bombs the next minute. Since the front door was open, the smaller boy attempted to enter the house with a mere 'hello' to Mikihisa. The other blue haired fellow was about to do the same when he stopped and turned to Mikihisa. "You're Hao's dad, right?"

"That's right."

"You're Ms. Asakura's ex-husband, right?"

"That's right."

"Horo!" Ren pulled at Horo's arm. "Don't annoy him."

"She's a good lady," Horo continued as the latter tried to pull him deeper into the house. "Don't think you can piss off my friend's mom and get away with it."

"What are you going to do?" Ren asked. "Go and beat the crap out of him? Jesus, Horo, I swear you were born without brains."

"Hey! Stop insulting me!"

Keiko hurried past them, with a rushed 'hello boys, they're in the living room' before slipping on her heels in front of Mikihisa. As she adjusted them to her comfort, Mikihisa raised his eyebrows.

"It looks like you're quite the popular mom in the neighborhood."

Keiko straightened up and looked her ex in the eyes. "What are you talking about?"

"Never mind. Shall we go?"

"Bye mom! Keep it clean!"

"Yoh, go play with your friends." Yoh laughed as his mother rushed past the living room, clutching a pair of black heels. Lyserg smiled and was about to call something encouraging when he felt arms circle his waist and pull him away from next to Yoh.

"Hao! Let me go!"

"Uh-uh. You're too cute to resist." Hao smirked as he rubbed his head against the back of Lyserg's neck, keeping his arms firmly around the struggling boy. At that moment, Horo and Ren entered the room and instantly (Hao didn't know how he did it, one minute he was there, the next he wasn't, just like that) and Lyserg instantly leapt out of Hao's reach and went up to Horo.

"Hey, you guys are late!"

"Ren was busy insulting me and I had to say something back," Horo said, rolling his eyes at Ren. "So what movies we watching today?"

"I rented some shit from the store," Yoh said, reaching down into a plastic bag. "We got Superbad, Blades of Glory, and Zodiac."

The front door closed and in a few minutes, there was a sound of a car engine starting. There was flash of lights and Yoh glanced out the window to see his mother and father driving away.

"Serious date, huh?" Horo asked.

"I guess."

Popping in Superbad into the DVD player, the boys settled down in the living room. Yoh was already surgically implanted onto the couch and was joined by Ren. Horo looked slightly put out and sank into the easy chair on the other side of the Tao. It was a single occupant chair and Lyserg had no choice but to sit next to Hao on the other couch.

Keeping a safe distance away from that horny teen, of course.

" 'We gotta get the booze for the party, man!'" The movie was just starting when Hao suddenly got up and walked into the kitchen. It was a completely peaceful five minutes the older twin wasn't present when Hao came back. The long haired Asakura was holding a bottle of clear vodka and a few bottles of bear. "Looks like your mom's not a light weight like she seems!" he laughed, looking at Yoh's shocked expression.

"Put that back!" Yoh hissed. "We're underage, for god's sake!"

"Shut _up_, Yoh! Don't tell me it hasn't crossed your mind!"

"We're fucking fifteen, Hao! Well, except Horo, who can drive, but we're too young to get wasted and do something we regret!"

Hao rolled his eyes. "I can hold it down, Yoh. I've been drunk before."

"Holy shit, Hao."

"So…shall I break out the shot glasses?" Dumping his alcohol supply in Ren's arms (he was the closest), he returned to the kitchen to get some cups.

"Hide those!" Yoh whispered.

"Why?" Ren asked, staring at the vodka, gurgling in the bottle.

"Yeah, Yoh, I wanna try some." Yoh turned to Lyserg, who was looking innocent. "Even you, Lyserg?"

Lyserg shrugged. "I'm not going to get drunk, Yoh. I'm just going to try some."

"Don't," Horo said, trying to focus on the movie.

Hao returned after a few minutes, with five shot glasses. Yoh wondered how he'd never found this stuff before in the kitchen. His mother hid them well. Within five minutes, Hao had convinced Yoh, Lyserg, and Ren to drink with him. Horo had declined so seriously that Hao just shrugged. Horo frowned at the alcohol. He'd had bad experiences with it, and no way was he letting so much as one drop near his lips.

Sighing and trying to watch the movie, Horo opened the window nearby to let the alcohol smell out. It was already starting to bring back bad memories.

Keiko opened the menu, sitting in a quite comfortable leather chair in a dimly lit fancy restaurant. "Mickey," she said slowly. "How did you get reservations in here?"

Mikihisa shrugged, his eyes not straying from the menu in front of him. "I was saving for today."

After ordering and receiving a bottle of wine Mikihisa had obviously preordered, the two were stuck in an uncomfortable silence without menus or other minor things to distract themselves from the inevitable conversation.

"So…" Keiko said, swirling the wine in her glass.

"Keiko…you're wearing your wedding ring."

Keiko looked down and noticed that yes, she was still wearing that little band of silver and diamond. "It's pretty," she said shortly. "I can wear jewelry, can't I?"

"You weren't wearing it yesterday at your office. And you were wearing another ring, so you can't say you didn't feel like dressing up." Mikihisa held up his hand and revealed that he had worn his ring too.

"So you didn't go sell it or something?"

Mikihisa looked genuinely shocked. "Why would I do something like that?"

Keiko shrugged. "We're already off subject."

"I noticed." Mikihisa took a sip of wine before continuing. "Keiko, about what we talked about yesterday…"

"Yeah, yeah. You went into rehab after the divorce and it was going pretty badly until you had the accident and suddenly, as if the heavens had opened, you saw the light," Keiko said sarcastically, throwing her hands in the air. "You stopped drinking and started getting an honest job. You turned around. And this happened two years ago."

"Let me explain further, Keiko."

"Hmm."

Mikihisa took a deep breath and put his hands in front of him. He looked as if he were about to take Keiko's hand, which was on the table, looking alone. Having a second thought, he looked up and started to explain.

"After we separated, I took some of the alimony money and took Hao to Japan. He lived with my parents for a while when I was hitting rock bottom. One night, I came home drunk and something had made me really mad that night. I was having a fit, it was horrible…" He paused for a moment. "My parents were trying to calm me down, and suddenly Hao crawled out into the room. Apparently, this was his first time crawling, because my parents suddenly started shouting and acting all proud. We were distracted from my drinking escapades. Then my son…our son…he looked up at me and said, 'Hi dada'."

Keiko watched her husband recalling her other son's first words with a soft expression.

"I…I saw you in his eyes, Keiko. I saw what we were, what we could have been if I hadn't made those wrong decisions. I vowed then and there to quit drinking and I even when to Alcoholics Anonymous. It was a hard habit to break and I admit, I nearly stopped when I got pretty far. But Hao just kept growing and growing, and so did my determination to make things right again. Keiko, I never stopped loving you. I was heartbroken when you announced the divorce but my drinking stopped me from thinking straight."

"Damn straight."

"I thought saying those kind of things would threaten you into staying with me. I was impaired, Keiko, I'm sorry…I should have known you were too strong to cave into the pressure. I wanted the family to stay together. I asked for Hao because…I thought somehow you would want to try to make the family whole again. But you never contacted me."

"I was making sure Yoh would never turn out to be like you, Mickey."

Mikihisa closed his eyes. "So I tried to make it right. I wanted Hao to have a mother, so I tried to find another woman. Thinking back, I was trying to find you again in another person. No one matched up to you, Keiko. It was frustrating. Sometimes when I was feeling lonely, missing you, I would tell Hao about you. He learned about his loving mother when he was five. I told him I had made a lot of mistakes and that I lost the most important person in my life. I told him everything to try and stop him from making the same mistakes I did."

Keiko didn't say anything and stared at her spotless china plate in front of her, watching her reflection, a face of sadness looking back at her.

"Please, Keiko, you don't understand, and I don't expect you to. After years of slow moving progress and not meeting anyone special, one night I…I don't know what came over me. I drank a lot more than I wanted to and being the irresponsible adult I am…"

"You're not irresponsible," Keiko said softly. Anyone who struggled through life like that and raised a child like Hao wasn't irresponsible. Yes, Hao had his faults, but he wasn't self destructive or emotionally lacking. Hao had his fare of struggles, but he was still a bright eyed looking-toward-the-future child.

"I was that night! I could have been pulled over. I would have been lucky. I ran into another car."

Mikihisa's voice was hollow and he stopped for a long pause before continuing.

"I was lucky…_extremely_ lucky that the other person in the car wasn't fatally injured. She was a kind listening woman. She was mad at first, but when the cops tried to take me away, I was still intoxicated and I must have been babbling about Hao and the divorce because she automatically dropped all charges after listening to me. When I came too, I apologized, but the woman was no where to be found. She was the best Samaritan I have ever encountered. My run in with an apparent angel and my near miss with death forced me to totally turn around. Whenever I considered drinking, the flashbacks would come back. Keiko…" Keiko looked up, startled at the sudden change of tone. Mikihisa looked like he was crying.

"You were the first thing I thought of when I registered the impact and the last thing I remember before I blacked out. I know you don't want me back, and I don't blame you, but you're a kind soul. You would cry over my body. I didn't want to inconvenience you. When I regained consciousness…I was glad I was alive. Glad that you wouldn't have to come to see my dead body. I wanted to work so I could turn around…so you wouldn't have to think back and only have bad memories of our relationship. I hope to achieve by apologizing that we can wipe the slates clean and we can finally start fresh again."

Keiko didn't say anything.

"I'll go tomorrow morning," Mikihisa said, wiping his eyes and regaining his posture. "I'll let Hao know tonight he's staying with you. You don't need to deal with me anymore."

He looked at his ex-wife, trying to find any sign of emotion, to see what she was thinking. He definitely wasn't expecting her to be crying.

"I know you," Keiko whispered, her eyes closed in effort to stop the tears. "Even before we were married, I could somehow understand you and know who you really are. And now this is what you've turned out to be. I believe you."

"Keiko…" Mikihisa reached over and grasped her hand, relieved it did not pull away immediately.

"I forgive you…I know it's been hard, I tried to find someone else too but no one else I found worked…yes, you were an ass…a complete _ass_, but you were special. I loved you despite your faults because I knew that no matter what you did, you were really a good person. I guess you haven't changed as much as I thought you did."

"I understand. I'll leave Hao in your custody and…"

"No, wait. Don't go yet." Keiko looked up, her eyes still shimmering with tears, but there was a strength-filled resolve in those clear brown eyes. "I can't guarantee anything…hell, I could probably kick you out tomorrow…but…I'm willing to try…I'm willing to give…I'm willing to give us a chance again…you know, if you want to."

Keiko wiped her eyes with her hand hastily and locked eyes with her ex again. "I know it's going to be shaky trying to get to know each other again…but let's give it a try, hmm? For the kids…for us."

Mikihisa stared at her, stared back at the woman he had fallen in love with…still was, actually. He had missed her strength, her dependability. He missed _them_.

"Alright, let's do this."

God, they were totally _wasted_.

Horo groaned as the credits for Superbad started rolling. Hao had managed to get everyone else in the room but him totally intoxicated and idiotic. Even Ren, who was the most rational and level-headed person he knew. Who was stupid now, hmm?

"Horo…why haven't you drinked _anything?_" Ren slurred, holding an empty shot glass and teetering closer to the easy chair. "God, it's so _fun_ being fucking _wasted…_have you tried it yet?"

"Yes," Horo said, staring at the screen of the television, trying not to look interested.

"Oh, god, I love the world," Ren started, sounding uneasy on his feet. Horo turned to see Ren holding his head, the other dropping the shot glass on the carpeted floor. "It's spinning so much, but I fucking love it, right? Jesus, Horo, I fucking love _Yoh_, did you know that?"

"Yeah."

"Good." Ren started walking forward, but being totally dizzy and drunk, collapsed in Horo's lap, laughing.

"Whoa, Ren, watch it." Horo held his hands out to steady Ren, who was swaying back and forth while splayed out on his lap.

"Watch t.v., Horo…I'm fine…"

"You are _not_ fine."

"Yeah I am. So are Lyserg and Yoh and Hao and Lyserg…"

Horo looked over Ren's head at the rest of his friends. Hao was holding the empty vodka bottle, laughing softly to himself. Lyserg was holding his shot glass, empty, and laughing cheerfully, his normally pale face red.

"It tasted really weird at first but now I think I got it!" the British boy was saying amidst his giggles. "Dreadful, really, how bad I am at this game."

Alright, now one of them was saying things that no longer made sense.

"Hey…Ren…get off Horohoro! He's _mine_!" Lyserg was trying to look at Horo, but he was constantly getting blurred vision. "Horo? Get Ren off you…you're _mine_. I love you, man…why can't I see anything clearly?"

Horo groaned, rubbing his temples. He had thought his friends were in the room, but it was clearly the alcohol talking.

"Horo, come sit over here," Lyserg said drunkenly, patting the space between him and Hao. "Come here and get snuggly with _me_."

God, Lyserg was even worse an optimistic prep drunk.

"Oh, ignore him," Yoh slurred, finishing the beer bottle in his hand. He had been leery of the liquid at first, but before long, Hao had convinced him to chug it. "Lyserg, if you're lonely, why don't you sit here next to me?"

"Alright." Lyserg stood up wobbly and stumbled over to Yoh, collapsing on his headphone wearing friend. The two of them started laughing.

"You're all drunk," Horo told Ren, who was looking sleepy in his arms.

"We're all _drunk_," Ren corrected. "Drunk…drunk…drunk…" He chuckled.

Horo rolled his eyes and glared at Hao. "Goddammit, Hao, thanks a whole bunch!"

"Noooo problem," Hao said, sounding strangely clear voiced.

Meanwhile, Yoh and Lyserg were getting pretty snuggly. The both of them were cramped on the tiny couch and the greenette was resting against Yoh's chest, his arms around the younger twin's neck. Yoh's fingers were absentmindedly tangling themselves in Lyserg's hair.

"Lyserg…you're too beautiful it must be a crime."

"I'm bad like that," Lyserg laughed, hiccupping.

"Ah…I so want to do you _so _badly, Lyserg."

Horo stared at Yoh. What did he just say?

"Well, then I'm all yours," Lyserg chuckled, attempting to sit up. After failing, the greenette just laughed and leaned up to Yoh and licked his cheek like a kitten. The two collapsed in laughing again and became quiet. Horo watched them again and realized the two had fallen asleep.

"Ren, did you hear what Yoh said?" Horo asked, looking down at Ren. The Tao was asleep, his head leaning against Horo's shoulder lazily, his breaths quiet and slow.

"God…all lightweights. All goddamn lightweights. If you were drinking, Horo, I bet you'd outdrink us all."

Horo looked up and saw Hao gathering up all the fallen bottles and shot glasses, looking quite steady on his feet and pretty into it.

"Did you drink?"

"Yeah, of course I did. But don't you remember that I've been drunk before?" Hao laughed. "Horo, my body's toleration for alcohol is ungodly, man. I won't even have a hangover tomorrow. But these three…Yoh, who's never been drunk before, Lyserg too…and Ren…god…I wouldn't want to be them. My first hangover was the worst." Hao shook his head and straightened up, holding all the glass containers.

"What did you get alcohol in them for?"

"Fun," Hao shrugged. "At least we got a confession out of Yoh, nee?"

Horo looked at his sleeping friend, who had his arm loosely around Lyserg, who had curled up against the younger Asakura. "I never knew…"

"Of course you didn't. Neither will remember much when they wake up. I suggest we clean up nicely before Keiko comes home and finds more than half of us totally wasted. Does this place have any air freshener? It reeks of beer."

Horo laid Ren down on the couch that Hao had just gotten up from and the two of them, being the only relatively sober ones in the bunch, started opening windows and spraying freshener to scare the alcoholic smell in the air. They wiped up the spilled beer and crossed their fingers that Keiko wouldn't notice the missing vodka. Hao threw the bottles in a trash bag and went across the street to dump them onto another neighbor's trash pile. The evidence would be off the premises.

Getting blankets, Horo gently covered his remaining sleeping friends, taking care to gently tuck Ren in before throwing a cherry pattern onto Yoh and Lyserg. He was popping the DVD out of the DVD player when Hao came back inside.

"Now it smells better. A bit sweet. But hopefully Keiko's gotten a few drinks in her system and she won't notice the difference."

"What do you think your parents are gonna do?" Horo asked.

Hao shrugged. "Knowing my dad, anything's possible."

Note: Hao is our evil one! We get a slight glimpse of how our favorite little mankin characters would be drunk…scary shit, huh? The plot thickens in the next chapter…keep reading!


	8. Problems

**Disclaimer: If Shaman King were mine, I wouldn't need to write fanfics.**

Background music: ---------

Not another school story, you say! Please, spare us! I would love to, but my invisible writing stalker won't let me! I promise I will skip over the dramatic shonen-ai shojo version, since I know probably no guys would actually do that, but there will shonen-ai! Pairings are still up in the air, but please know the love square before flaming me. The pairings I suggest may or may not be there in the end. And yes, there will be an end!

Chapter 8 – The Chapter Where Things Start Getting Screwed Up (Despite The Way They're Already Screwed Up)

The next morning…

"Why the hell am I so goddamn dizzy?"

Horo was startled awake by Ren's loud complaint. He looked up from his sleeping bag next to the Tao's bed (aka the couch) to see Ren trying to sit up while holding his head.

"Ren, you awake?"

"Horo, would you care to share why I'm feeling so shitty right now?"

"Yeah. You got drunk last night."

"Goddamnit. How did that happen?"

"You listened to Hao." Simple, matter-of-fact truth.

"Shit." Ren tried to get off the couch but collapsed from dizziness. "I feel awful."

"Hang on, I swear I saw hangover medicine one time I was trying to find Advil. It's in the kitchen…I'll get it for you." Slipping out of the sleeping bag, Horo walked past Ren's groaning figure, past Yoh and Lyserg still snuggled next to each other, asleep, and Hao, sprawled out despite his sleeping bag. Horo had managed to find the sleeping bags in the basement without Yoh's help. He'd been at the Asakura residence long enough to know where things were.

He stumbled into the kitchen, jumping once he saw Keiko in a bathrobe, sitting at the counter, drinking coffee.

"Anyone else awake, Horokeu?"

"No, ma'am."

Keiko laughed lightly. "Out of all of Yoh's friends, you're the only one that calls me 'ma'am'."

Of course. She was the person who had been his mother's first friend out of all the years they had lived here. She had saved his mother from sure depression, from loneliness and friendlessness. He at least owed it to her to call her 'ma'am'.

"So, Horokeu, what are you doing by yourself in the kitchen?"

Shit. To get to the medicine cabinet, he'd have to walk past her. No way to sneak it away. "Um, I have a headache…do you have some Advil?"

"Sure. In the medicine cabinet." Keiko gestured to the cabinet behind her head. Horo walked past her and looked at her before opening the cabinet. Keiko wasn't look at him…okay, good to go.

Except the place where the hangover medicine was supposed to be was empty.

"Looking for these?" Horo turned and saw Keiko holding the box of hangover medicine. "Did you think I wouldn't notice my alcohol stash missing? Let me guess…you're the only one that didn't drink."

"Yes ma'am."

"Hmm. Kimi told me you were eternally afraid of liquor and that that was the only thing she was proud to have taught you from her drinking experiences. And…hmm…Hao was the one who found it?"

"Yes ma'am."

"And the rest of the boys out there are completely hungover, my son included?"

"Yes, ma'am. Completely."

Keiko groaned softly. "I was afraid of that."

As Horo started walking out with the pills and a glass of water, he turned. "How did you know all that?"

"Well…Yoh doesn't pry so he wouldn't know where my alcohol is, plus he's good, I know he is, and he wouldn't drink. Lyserg can be mean at times, but that doesn't mean he doesn't listen to what his parents tell him. Ren's just…" Keiko shrugged. "Ren just doesn't seem the type. And you are afraid of the stuff…it all just fits, you know?"

"Oh. Okay. I tried to talk them out of it…"

"Don't worry about it. The hangover should be punishment enough." As Horo left the kitchen, he swore he heard Keiko mutter, "The first hangover is the worst."

By the time he had gotten back into the living room, Hao was sitting up chuckling nonstop as Ren seemed nearly dead on the couch. Yoh had his eyes closed, but Horo could tell he was awake. Lyserg still seemed conked out.

"All you drunks awake?"

"Shut up and give me the drugs."

Horo handed Ren the box as Yoh opened his eyes slowly. "Horo, you got hangover medicine?"

"Yeah, and your mother knows you're gone."

"Shit." Yoh closed his eyes and suddenly opened them as Lyserg shifted on his stomach. "Whoa! How long as Lyserg been there?"

"Since last night when you two were nearly making out," Horo responding calmly, as Ren groaned again.

"What?" Horo smirked to himself as he saw Yoh's face redden. Ren suddenly stopped groaning. "Wait. Yoh, were you making out with Lyserg?"

"I don't remember. I can't remember almost everything! I do remember we were watching Superbad, but after I started drinking, I can't even remember…"

"Nothing happened. It was all good clean fun," Hao said, standing up and dusting himself off. "There was no making out, okay?"

Yoh looked relieved and Horo noticed Ren breathe a sigh of relief. At that moment, Lyserg jolted awake. "Whoa, what happened…my head feels funny…" He blinked as he noticed himself nearly on top of Yoh. "Whoa!" he shouted again, rocketing off and stumbling, only to be caught by Horo.

"What was I doing on top of Yoh?" Lyserg asked, looking too surprised to notice he was hungover.

"You guys were doing it," said Hao, calmly rolling up his sleeping bag. "It was a threesome."

"Oh, god, no…" Lyserg covered his face and Horo saw his pale face redden again like last night.

"Nothing happened," Horo assured. "You guys just were too drunk to think and just fell asleep on each other."

Lyserg smiled as he looked up at Horo. "Well, good morning, Horo. What do you have there? Hangover pills? Can I have one?"

"Alright." Horo gave Lyserg a pill, which the greenette popped in his mouth slowly, deliberately, his eyes not leaving Horo's for one minute. Horo tried not to think about it, but his mind wandered back to last night. _Get Ren off you…you're mine…_He knew those rumors were true. Alright, so Lyserg liked him. He wasn't going to have a problem with that. He had suspected anyway.

"Did we do anything while intoxicated…anything stupid and that we'd regret?" Ren asked, looking a little better already. Lyserg turned away and started helping Yoh fold up the blankets.

Horo decided not to mention how he had gotten slightly turned on when the Chinese boy had collapsed on his lap, looking up at him with those glassy violet eyes. He shook his head. "Nothing really _bad_…just…stupid." He smirked.

"Oh, don't go using that as your excuse to call me stupid. I was drunk."

"You were stupid enough to _get_ drunk, Ren, and I believe that counts."

"Oh, shut up. And you weren't drunk?"

"That's right. I was totally sober all the way up to now."

Ren glared at him, disbelieving but believing all the same. "You didn't win this time, Usui."

"I didn't know we were even playing. How's your head."

"Crappy."

Yoh groaned. Lyserg had pulled him into sitting position and was currently trying to coax the younger Asakura to take some medicine.

"My mom's gonna kill us," Yoh kept mumbling. "I knew I should have stopped at that second beer."

"She can't _kill_ you," Lyserg assured. "Ground you to the sixteenth ring of Pluto, yes, but not _kill_ you."

"By the way, where's my dad?" Hao asked, looking around as if Mikihisa would suddenly appear in the room. "He usually doesn't spend a night without me."

"Maybe he's here," Horo suggested. At this, both Asakuras looked up. At the same time, they turned to each other, in perfect unison.

"Here?" Yoh managed to say.

"Well, we'll never know, so let's find out." Hao walked into the kitchen, followed by Horo. He stopped when he saw his father pour himself a cup of coffee.

"Dad! You're here!"

"Of course I am. Did you expect me to spend the night without you? I'm your father. I'm insulted."

"Did you two…" Horo said, stumbling through his sentence. Hao gave him a look that said 'speak much?'. Ren managed to stumble in and nearly toppled over seeing Mikihisa. "Yoh," he called. "You'd better get in here."

"He's in there, isn't he?" Yoh called. "Hold on…Lyserg, help me up, won't you?"

Keiko laughed as Yoh walked in, leaning on Lyserg for support. God, that British boy could hold his liquor. He was looking good already. "Mickey, I had no idea we were the latest couple of our little gossip group."

Mikihisa nodded, taking a sip of the coffee. "Kind of like Brangelina or something." The two of them laughed as the five kids stared at them.

"Mom," Yoh said, looking slightly dizzy. "Are you two getting back together?"

"Not yet," Keiko said, looking up at Mikihisa, who had a hand on her shoulder. "And no, Horo, we didn't sleep with each other last night." Yoh turned to Horo, who shrugged at him. "We're not back together…_yet_. But that's the plan for the future. We're working toward it."

"Yes!" Hao shouted, looking triumphant. "I can live with my utouto and actually be there when Lyserg sleeps over and not look like a total perv while I'm doing it!" Everyone in the kitchen turned to him. He shrugged unashamedly. "What? It's how I feel."

Breakfast was a little awkward. Keiko had given them a light 'don't ever try and get yourself as drunk as you did last night' speech, smiling triumphantly as she watched them struggle through their hangovers. Well, Ren, Yoh, and Lyserg actually. A Tao car had come at ten, to pick up Ren. Ren gave Horo a death look before leaving, but it was lessened due to the horrible headache the former had.

The four had decided that the awkwardness of finding the Asakura parents together was too much to spend more time with the abnormally cheery 'getting-back-together' couple, so they went up to Yoh's room before Horo and Lyserg went home. It was strange to see Keiko wearing a light pink bathrobe and smiling as if she had all the secrets in the world.

Or maybe it was because Mikihisa was only wearing boxers and a loose white T-shirt.

Maybe.

Hao had decided it was his duty to raid his future 'living-together' brother's room. After all, he reasoned, they'd be sharing it eventually, so why not? Yoh was lying down, looking shitty, while Lyserg sat near him, looking worried. Horo started stringing the electric guitar thoughtfully.

"Have you been practicing?" Lyserg asked, grinning.

"No, not really…" Horo continued to strum, not noticing Yoh giving Lyserg a 'See? And you say _I_ suck' look and Lyserg just rolling his eyes.

"Jesus, Yoh, no porn?" Hao sighed as he continued scrolling down the pictures on Yoh's computer. "No porn…not one picture…a lot of pictures of Lyserg, though."

Horo smiled to himself as Lyserg went up to see and Yoh stewed in embarrassment, loathing, and the urge to slaughter his brother right then and there. If he could actually stand without feeling dizzy.

"Wow, you have a collection of me!" Lyserg laughed. "Yoh, I know you absolutely worship me, but this is like stalking!"

"Yeah," Yoh groaned. "I hide outside your house and take embarrassing pictures of you. Strange how every pictures happens at school or somewhere were you _know_ I was taking your picture."

"Except for these few." Hao pointed to several and Lyserg leaned forward to inspect them. "There's leaves in the corner…Yoh, were you _watching_ me from a tree and taking pictures of me?"

Yoh opened his eyes. Shit, he was hoping no one would find those. It was a one time thing, acted on after drinking almost a six pack of Red Bull. Shit.

"No," he lied, hoping Lyserg would buy his little lie. "You must not have noticed me."

"Of course I didn't. Cause you were in a _tree_." Lyserg walked up to him and leaned over Yoh. "Uh-uh-uh, Yoh! Stalking is a crime and you could be put away for a long time! _And_ I can get a restraining order! You can't lie to me, Yoh."

Yoh groaned. Lyserg laughed.

"But because I'm so nice and I deserve your worship anyway, I'll let it slide this time. Next time I see you acting all like Hao in a tree, I'm grabbing my dad's gun and shooting you, okay?"

Horo and Hao laughed.

The doorbell rang. Mikihisa was cleaning up in the bathroom, so Keiko answered the door. Kimi Usui was standing on her doorstep, looking worried and holding a pile of papers.

"Keiko! Did I come at a bad time?" She noted her boss's lack of dress in a fluffy bathrobe.

"No, I'm fine. What's wrong, Kimi?"

"These papers got faxed to you early this morning," Kimi explained, handing Keiko the papers. "Also…is Horokeu here?"

"Oh, yes, he is, actually. He slept over."

Kimi breathed a sigh of relief. "I thought me might have…I was so worried."

"Do you want me to call him?"

"Yes, please, I think we should go home now."

"Alright." Keiko pulled back into the house. "HORO! Your mother's here!"

"Okay!"

"He's coming," Keiko said, turning back to Kimi. "Your son was acting very responsible yesterday."

"Oh?"

"Yes. Apparently, _someone_ found their way into my liquor stack…"

Kimi gasped. "Not my son!"

"No, not your son, but he was responsible, knew he shouldn't drink, and was the only one who didn't get drunk! You should be proud of teaching your son to be careful around alcohol!" Keiko was careful to praise Kimi. She was still unsteady and needed carefully phrased praise to keep her ego up.

"Oh! Thank goodness!" Kimi's face lit up. "Oh…Horo, I knew I count on you. How are the others?"

Keiko just stuck out her tongue. Kimi laughed.

"Who's at the door?" Mikihisa appeared behind Keiko, looking clean-shaven again and pretty handsome for early in the morning, clad in jeans and a T-shirt. Keiko wondered if she had imagined Kimi's eyes widening in approval.

"You're the man from Monday…" Kimi said slowly. "Who are you?"

"I'm Mikihisa Asakura. Keiko's ex husband."

"Oh, goodness." Horo appeared in the kitchen and hung back, noticing his mother at the door. She didn't seem to notice her son at all.

"Are you two…getting back together?" Horo wondered if he was hearing some kind of…hope(?) in his mother's voice?

"We haven't yet," Mikihisa said shortly.

"Oh, thank goodness. I mean, that you're going to get back together. I mean, the divorce was messy, Keiko said you were awful to her…well, I'm always here to help." Horo stepped forward, a little disturbed in hearing his mother acting so strange. "Hey, mom, let's go."

"Alright. Good bye, Ms. Asakura. Good bye, Mikihisa."

"Call me Mickey."

Kimi smiled as Horo walked past her, her eyes not leaving Mikihisa for one minute. "Well, Mickey…come around the office soon. I'm sure Keiko would enjoy your company." She turned and followed her son.

As Mikihisa shut the door, Keiko stared at him. "Was that just me or was Kimi coming onto you?"

"I don't know. I don't think so." Mikihisa rubbed his chin. "Worried?"

"Of course not!" Keiko shouted. "Um…maybe you should go now."

"You're kicking me out of your house?"

"Yeah, maybe I am." Keiko cursed herself for feeling so frustrated. "Just go, alright?"

"Okay, okay…I'll get Hao."

Keiko watched her ex husband walk out of the room. No, she wasn't going soft. She was just…worried. Not worried for herself! Worried for Kimi, of course! If Kimi started going out with her Mickey, she was surely going to get hurt! She had known first hand how Mickey could be like!

But he said he changed.

Calm down, Keiko. Take a deep breath. Mickey's not interested in Kimi. No, even though he was smiling that special smile he had said was reserved especially for her. No, it was okay.

Not that she really cared if Mickey was interested in Kimi.

Nope.

Keiko slammed the papers on the table with more force than she'd intended. She'd really have to watch that secretary of hers now.

Horo looked out of the window quietly of the bus. This was one thing he hated about going to Yoh's house. He lived across town and always had to take the bus home. His mother was sitting next to him, looking oddly happy.

"Was…Yoh's dad back for a long time?"

"No, not really."

"Where is he staying? Do you know?"

"In his car. He doesn't have a place to go."

"How awful! Is Keiko letting him stay at her house?"

"I don't think so." Horo turned slightly to see his mother smiling to herself, her face looking rather pink. "Why?"

"No reason." Kimi shrugged. "If he didn't have a place to stay, he could stay a while at our house."

"There's no place for him _to_ stay."

"It was just a suggestion," Kimi said quickly. She stopped for a few minutes. "Is Keiko getting back together with him?"

"I don't know. They said they were, but you never know."

"Okay."

Horo sighed and kept looking out the window. His mother hadn't been this happy since…he actually hadn't seen her looking this excited in a long time.

That was a good thing, right?

To be continued…

Note: The plot thickens considerably like milk past its expiration date!!!! Bad comparison! Thank you for reading, and please review if you have any questions/comments/flames! Also, I didn't know Horo's mom's name, so I kinda made it up. If any of you know, please tell me so I can change it in future chapters. I should actually try drinking a pack of Red Bull and see if I get the same reaction as Yoh. I will not be responsible if any readers should actually attempt it. You have been warned. So if you get pulled over for whatever crackpot thing you do after drinking a six pack of Red Bull, you are forbidden to say 'Oh, I got the idea over fanfiction.' It will not hold well in court.


	9. All Teenage Hopes

**Disclaimer: If Shaman King were mine, I wouldn't need to write fanfics.**

Background music: our lawyer made us change the name of this song so we didn't get sued - FOB

Not another school story, you say! Please, spare us! I would love to, but my invisible writing stalker won't let me! I promise I will skip over the dramatic shonen-ai shojo version, since I know probably no guys would actually do that, but there will shonen-ai! Pairings are still up in the air, but please know the love square before flaming me. The pairings I suggest may or may not be there in the end. And yes, there will be an end!

Chapter 9 – All Teenage Hopes

Keiko looked up as the door to her office opened. Mikihisa stepped in, wearing the dress shirt his wore on their date about a week ago and a pair of jeans. She looked back down at the firm papers and tried to convince herself that he was just here to check up on her. It wasn't as if he was _thinking _about her 24/7.

Because she wasn't doing that. No way.

"Your office is pretty organized, Keiko." Mikihisa looked around at the shelves of carefully categorized books. The pictures on the walls were hung with precision and care. The coffee table had a peaceful looking fountain on it, the water bubbling as it trickled down the sides of the dome-shaped fountain. The large window behind Keiko provided most of the light in the office.

"Well, I do what I can," Keiko muttered. Her desk was messier than her office: papers were scattered everywhere, one stack being kept in order by the opal paperweight Yoh had given her when he was twelve. Her computer had sticky notes stuck all over it, looking like it was being overcome by yellow sheets of paper. "What did you come here for?"

"Kimi said I should." Keiko looked up. "Well, I figured I'd meet up with you for lunch. After all, we're trying this out again, aren't we?"

"Yeah…I would love to go out to lunch with you today, but I really have a deadline to make, and I'm sorry. I have to stay in."

"Oh, that's okay. We can order in."

"No…I was actually thinking of actually…not eating. I really need to finish this."

Mikihisa frowned. "Not eating is bad. Can I get something for you instead?"

Keiko looked up. Concern was written all over his face and she sighed. She couldn't turn that away. "Alright. I'll let you play delivery boy."

"Great. Kimi had planned for all three of us to go to lunch together, but since you're staying here, I guess we'll just get something for you."

Keiko stopped writing. "You're going out with Kimi?"

"She said she could show me around. You know, since I'm new here." Mikihisa shrugged. "She's such a nice person. You're lucky she works for you."

"Uh-huh…" Keiko wished she could go, to keep an eye on them, but this was more important. Besides, she could trust Mikihisa, couldn't she?

"Well…have fun," she said slowly. "Pick me up a little something. It doesn't matter what."

"Alright. We'll be back." He walked out the door and Keiko could hear them talking, since Mikihisa hadn't bothered to close the door behind him.

"She said she was busy."

"Did she now? She seemed free to me." Keiko frowned. She had told Kimi she was swamped that morning. "Well, are we still going?"

"Yeah. We're picking something up for her, though. That okay?"

"Oh, it's fine! Completely fine." There was a quick bustling of fabric. "Shall we go now?"

"That would be nice." Keiko heard sounds of footsteps and friendly conversation before it was drowned out by other office noises. She was already getting second thoughts.

"Yoh."

Yoh jolted up, realizing for the first time that he had fallen asleep. That was probably…what…the fifteenth time in history that he'd fallen asleep? He rubbed his eyes, realizing there were probably lines on his face where his penciled notes had left a mark.

"Oh, shit, Lyserg, how long have I been asleep?"

"Oh, probably twenty minutes. Mr. Matamune decided it would be useless to wake you." Mr. Matamune was the history teacher who resembled a cat. A historic cat. He liked to smoke pipes and read old school literature that would keep the normal being asleep for weeks. Not only that, he was the kind of teacher that caught you passing notes even before you folded up the piece of paper.

"Damn." Yoh quickly stuffed his notes and books into his bookbag, realizing the class was now deserted. Lyserg was the only person who waited for him, his arm resting on his worn out carrier bag, probably bought in England.

"Come on, Yoh. We'll be late for art."

"Where's Horo and Ren? And Hao?"

"Hao has math now and Ren wanted to stay behind to wait, but I told him to go with Horo to tell Eliza that we were going to be a bit late." The art teacher, Ms. Eliza Faust, was a beautiful blonde who was quiet but actually pretty good at her profession. She was pretty lenient in her class, allowing the students to talk ("Art is beautiful when you are free to open your mind…that includes also opening your mouth…) and any random splash of color or lines would be considered for an A ("Sometimes, even abstract art that makes no sense is beautiful in its own way…"). She was married to the school nurse (or doctor as he liked to be called), Dr. Faust. Ironically, Faust also taught AP Anatomy.

Manta Oyamada, who was only a sophomore as well, was in most, if not all, of the AP and Honors classes. The shortie was terrified to go to AP Anatomy though, and would try to find ways to escape.

Let him tell you that running as fast as your little legs can carry you out onto campus is a pretty bad way. Especially if the teacher in question can roll a mean wheelchair and catch up with you.

"Why wouldn't you want to go? You usually don't bother with me." Yoh slung his bookbag over his shoulder and followed Lyserg out of the classroom. "That one time back in freshman year…remember when I slept through sixth period all because you refused to wake me even though you had the same class? And then they said I skipped it on purpose to go smoking on campus…"

"First of all, it was _your_ fault you decided to sleep near the campus smokers. I told you it was a bad idea to sleep in the area near where Ryu and Kanna hang out." Ryu and Kanna were two juniors who were notorious for sneaking smokes during lunch period. They weren't friends in the hallways, but once they were outside in their little secret designated spot, they could just smoke for hours on end.

"Secondly…well, I really don't have a second reason. Just be glad I _did_ wake you, alright?"

"Gosh Lyserg, that's so very nice of you."

"I _am_ nice. What are you talking about?"

"I don't know. You're usually full of sarcasm and you insult me constantly even though we're best friends."

"Alright, you got me," Lyserg said, his voice dripping with sarcasm. "I thought if I was nice to you, you'd stop stalking me."

Yoh pouted. "I _told_ you, it was a one time thing!"

"Well, I guess I can't complain. I mean, I look _so_ good." Lyserg was well aware of the fact that he could get anyone he wanted with his looks, boy, girl, whatever, and he flaunted his ability. Yoh remembered when Lyserg used to be a shy boy who hadn't gone through puberty. Now that he was, it was a bit like a good girl gone bad.

Um, boy. Good boy gone bad.

Oh god, he was getting freaky images now.

"Yoh, stop zoning out on me now." Yoh blinked and saw Lyserg staring at him with a concerned expression. They had stopped in the middle of the hallway. "I swear you're zoning out a lot more lately. Is something wrong?"

"No, nothing."

Lyserg bit his lip (cutely, Yoh added in his mind), looking even more worried. "Are you sure?"

"Yeah, everything's fine." Yoh prayed Lyserg would stop looking at him. I swore the greenette's eyes could see through him sometimes. He gulped as Lyserg stared at him for a moment more before turning away. "Well, if you say so…"

Art was a riot. For that reason, Eliza had asked the principal, Mr. Silva, to soundproof the art room. Silva, who was a reasonable man, found no reason to do so ("I mean, if you asked to soundproof the choir classroom, I'd understand…what, with those screechy voices…but an art class room?"). After Faust had asked to speak to Silva privately though, oddly enough, the principal agreed. No one knew what Faust had said, but after that, Silva had been seen going to see the school psychiatrist, Marco. Marco was the school psychiatrist, but not many kids actually went to see him. Maybe it was because of the fact that he was constantly coughing and was always wearing a mask over his mouth, making him look like quite the creeper walking down the hallway. Ryu didn't seem to have a problem with him, along with strangely enough, Lyserg. Although Yoh made sure his friend saw as little as that potential creeper as possible.

Although there were many rumors that he and the French teacher, Jeanne, were seeing each other. Then again, Jeanne was maybe about…ten years younger and looked fifteen years younger than she actually was. Many parents were surprised to see such a baby-faced teacher teaching their kids French.

But her detentions could be murder…

That aside, Yoh and Lyserg entered the art classroom and both calmly avoided a paper airplane flying across the room and went up to the only table with two chairs empty. Horo and Ren were currently working on today's assignment, which happened to be water colors. Horo was a water fanatic (not only did he play basketball and ran track, he was a pretty good swimmer) and didn't quite understand why paint needed water.

"I mean, if they have liquid paints, then why would they need chalky paints?" he was asking as Yoh and Lyserg slid into the vacant seats, Yoh next to Ren and Lyserg next to Horo. Ren smiled a bit as he noticed the well known slacker sitting next to him and this seemed to affect his mood. "I don't know, Horo. Why don't you go ask the people who made it?" This instead of "Shut up and shove the paints up your

"What are we supposed to be painting?" interrupted Yoh, noticing Lyserg getting comfortable next to Horo. The tables in the art room sat four people, two people facing the other two. And if he wasn't mistaken, Lyserg was scooting his chair next to Horo's…a lot more than intended.

"That's a really cute unicorn, Horokeu."

"It's a snowman, Lyserg."

Lyserg smiled unabashedly. "Whatever, it's still cute. I couldn't tell cause you had a pond on your paper."

Resting on top of the pigment, there was indeed a pond on Horo's piece of paper. Really, throw on a few minute lily pads and a few cattails and some ducks might fly down and swim in it.

Lyserg turned to Ren's picture, which happened to be full of dark bold colors. "That's…are those headphones?"

"Yeah," Ren said, blushing slightly. He felt Yoh scoot closer to get a better look and blushed even more.

"Are those supposed to be mine?" Yoh asked, noticing the familiar orange headphones captured on paper. "That's really good, Ren."

"You can have it when it's done," Ren blurted, feeling flustered already.

Yoh looked at him before a wide grin spread across his face. "Really? That's great. I'd love it."

Ren blushed even harder.

"Hey, that's a great color, Ren. Do you think I could capture your blush on paper?" Lyserg teased. He, along with Horo and Hao, knew of Ren's crush on Yoh and liked to torture him about it. Of course knowing this, Lyserg also knew Horo liked Ren (okay, the rustling in the bushes during eighth grade graduation was _him…_ okay?!), but the greenette remained convinced he could change that.

"Shut up, slut," Ren hissed.

"Hey, don't call him that," Yoh defended. Lyserg looked at him interestedly as he continued. "Lyserg's _not_ a slut."

"You'd know Yoh," Horo said, swirling his paintbrush in his pond. "You _stalk_ him." He and Lyserg burst out laughing, causing Yoh to start blushing as well.

"Now who's blush should I try painting?" Lyserg mused out loud. "Yoh's subtle pink or Ren's blood red?"

Ren twitched and in one smooth movement, grabbed his container of colored water and threw it on Lyserg. Lyserg sat there, looking surprised as a mixture of reds, blues, oranges, blacks started soaking themselves in his white uniform shirt and drenching his hair. Everyone in the class turned to look and there were a few wolf whistles and a round of applause.

"Ren!" Lyserg cried, trying to quickly dry himself off. His shirt was coming out to be quite the rainbow. Yoh turned away, realizing Lyserg's shirt was wet enough to be see-through, revealing his lanky figure. Horo had gotten up and helpfully gotten paper towels, glaring at Ren. "Ren, we don't _waste_ water."

"Sorry, it was a slip of the hand," Ren said absentmindedly, using Horo's pond to continue his picture. Yoh ignored him, feeling a little jealous that it was Horo helping Lyserg dry off.

"Thanks," Lyserg breathed, as Horo slid his tie off to squeeze the water out of the soaked aqua fabric. He ignored the looks of the girls (and some guys) as he striped the soaking wet shirt off of him and Eliza quickly went up to him with a paint smattered smock that the little kids wore during art class. Lyserg slipped it on, looking like a little kid already. He looked at Yoh's face, which was turned away and pretty red, and smirked.

"Did you want that for your collection?" he asked, laughing as Yoh pretended not to have heard him. "Yoh, you know I love you."

Ren rolled his eyes. "Lyserg, you say that to everyone that it's lost its meaning."

"I guess." Lyserg looked down at himself as everyone started going back to their own projects. "I look like a little kid."

"A cute little kid," Horo chuckled, rubbing Lyserg's slightly drying hair. Lyserg smiled at him, looking grateful as he wrung out his shirt.

"I'm glad you think so," Lyserg said slowly. Before he could say anything else though, he was assaulted by what looked like a comet that suddenly whizzed into the room.

"Lyserg, cutie, looking so wet and sexy!" sang Hao, who was hugging Lyserg so hard that he had lifted the said victim off the ground. "I managed to sneak out of math early to see you !"

"That's great and everything, now put me down!"

"I swear that brother of yours is from another world," Ren muttered as Horo sat down across from him again, after just cleaning up the mess. Yoh laughed.

"Twins are usually demented," he said helpfully. He was starting to draw random lines across his paper, hoping they would somehow turn out to be a beautiful Monet. Ren glanced at it and scoffed. "Yoh, you're such an artist."

"Then help me, o art genius."

"Gladly." Ren scooted over to Yoh, getting all close and personal. "First of all, connect these two lines." Ren pointed to two lines as Yoh started following his instructions. The Tao wondered why he was feeling so strange and tried to ignore Horo staring at him.

"Can you stop _staring at me_?" he demanded, as Lyserg continued to struggle in Hao's grasp, his pleas of "A little help here?" gone ignored by everyone in the class. Eliza didn't seem to have noticed someone had entered her class. Yoh looked up, looking at Horo with a confused expression.

"I'm not staring at you," Horo said calmly. "Getting a little self centered, aren't we?"

"Don't make me throw this water on you." ("Um…Yoh? Ren? Horo? Get _off _me, Hao!")

"I wouldn't mind." ("Hey! Get your hand off there!" Insert slapping sound)

"Oh, of course you wouldn't. I should have known." Ren stared daggers at Horo. Yoh sighed and decided to help Lyserg. Ren didn't seem to have noticed and was staring Horo down. He started getting a little annoyed as the Usui suddenly started smiling.

"What are you _smiling _about?" Ren demanded.

"I'm pissing you off by doing nothing." Horo sat back. "You're so high strung, Ren."

"I am NOT high strung!" Ren stood up suddenly, his seat skidding back a few inches. Horo raised his eyebrow.

"What? Going to let me have it?"

"Damn straight."

"Then come on. Give it to me." Horo gave Ren a smirk and beckoned him closer.

Ren blushed as he realized what Horo had said. He blushed even more realizing it was probably him who was getting dirty thoughts and Horo hadn't meant it the way it sounded. He was instantly saved by the bell and at that moment, Hao had let go of Lyserg, dropping the boy onto the ground.

"Ow! Damn you, Hao!"

"That's right. Damn me. Fuck me."

"Yeah, fuck y--…wait, no! Shut up!"

Yoh helped his pissed off friend up off the ground as Eliza went around collecting the papers on the tables, as students started filing out. She arrived at their table, looking at Ren's picture, which actually resembled something. Yoh's paper had random colored lines stretching across it, Horo's pond had become a puddle blurring his badly painted snowman, and Lyserg's paper was just a strange blob of color, as the water Ren threw at him had soaked on his paper as well. She looked up. Ren was looking at her with an embarrassed look on his face, facing Horo, who looked smug. Hao was standing there looking blank, next to Lyserg who was being soothed by Yoh.

"Well, was this art class productive to you?" Eliza asked.

"Yes," all five of them answered at the same time. (Although Hao wasn't technically in the class…)

"Then I'm glad. You all pass today." Eliza scooped up their 'works of art' and continued collecting papers.

They said Eliza was almost the same as a corpse: beautiful yet emotionless. Some had even speculated that she was a kind of 'Frankenstein' that Faust had resurrected.

But they were only rumors. Rumors that…weren't true. Yeah, not true at all.

---

Note: I apologize for semi-bashing Marco. I'm not a big fan of his. Next chapter reveals a little more of everyone we know. The title is a line from the song 1234 from Feist.

TRIPLE RELEASE! OH GOSH!


	10. Accidentally in Love

**Disclaimer: If Shaman King were mine, I wouldn't need to write fanfics.**

Background music:

Not another school story, you say! Please, spare us! I would love to, but my invisible writing stalker won't let me! I promise I will skip over the dramatic shonen-ai shojo version, since I know probably no guys would actually do that, but there will shonen-ai! Pairings are still up in the air, but please know the love square before flaming me. The pairings I suggest may or may not be there in the end. And yes, there will be an end!

Note: I'm not sure if said this, but this is their sophomore year.

Chapter 10 – Accidentally in Love

Keiko gripped the steering wheel of her car. Mickey had been the civilized gentleman today, bringing back for her a tuna sub with chips and a Coke, obviously bought at Subway. He had sat down and had a pretty nice talk with her and everything seemed fine and dandy. Except Keiko couldn't get over how when she hugged Mikihisa good bye for the day, she smelled a faint whiff of Kimi's perfume on her ex husband.

But he did take time out of his day to talk to her. And they did catch up a few years the thirteen years they were apart. So maybe some part of it was productive.

She drove into the driveway, noticing Yoh and Lyserg sitting on the porch. It was a relatively warm day; Yoh was wearing a long sleeved track team T-shirt with dark cargo shorts. Lyserg was sitting next to him, talking (Keiko didn't know what about; she only saw his mouth moving and Yoh nodding). He was wearing the same skinny jeans and Converse he had worn to school, but Keiko had noticed that the black sweater he was currently wearing belonged to Yoh.

After parking in the garage, Keiko walked over to the front porch again and this time, Ren had joined the two. Keiko noticed that Ren was sitting pretty close for comfort next to her son. Sighing to herself, Keiko couldn't help but feel proud. She had raised such a cute son that everyone flocked to him.

"Hey, Ms. Asakura," Lyserg said, the polite child he was. Ren merely nodded, Keiko understood he was a person of few words (unless he was in the presence of Horokeu Usui). Yoh smiled. "How was work, mom?"

"Fine. Mickey came to see me today."

"Did he? How was it?"

"It was cordial." She ignored the way the three seemed to roll their eyes at her use of words. "Where's Horo?"

"Basketball practice." Ren pulled out his IPhone. "Talking about that, I should probably get going. I'm Horo's ride, after all." Ren was Horo's ride home after school, since he lived (relatively) close to Horo's house, and besides, there were no nearby bus stops near the school, or Horo would have taken public transportation.

You would expect two people who travel together often to get along.

"Bye Ren." Ren stood up and started walking down to the corner of the block, where the black Tao car was waiting for him. Ren hated the Tao presence anywhere where he felt somewhat normal.

"Yoh, you're such a popular boy!" Keiko said, as she followed the two inside the house. "You have so many friends."

"He does. He's _so_ popular that he'd probably get away with stalking, maybe!" Lyserg added, staring at the back of his friend, laughing to himself as Yoh seemed to wilt with embarrassment again.

"Talking about stalking," Keiko said, although the subject had nothing to do with her question, "Lyserg, why are you wearing Yoh's sweater?"

Lyserg looked down. "Oh. Right. Ren threw a fit in art today and threw water on me. I've been wearing this all day. It's comfy."

"Is it now?" Keiko said, a slow smirk crossing her face. Yoh gave her a warning look and she went to get herself some ice coffee from the fridge. Lyserg didn't seem to notice and started humming something softly under his breath.

"What are you humming?" Yoh asked curiously as they crossed into the living room to get to the stairs, to Yoh's room.

"_So she said what's the problem baby…what's the problem I don't know, well maybe I'm in love…think about it every time I think about it can't stop thinking about it…" _Lyserg sang, his voice in perfect melody with the song. Keiko couldn't help but perk her ears whenever she heard Yoh's friend sing. Lyserg didn't sing very often in the presence of anyone other than Yoh or their 'band'. Lyserg had the perfect vocals voice; his voice seemed to have matured enough that he didn't have the high pitched tone when he was a child, but he could still sing pretty high for a boy.

"_How much longer will it take to cure this? Just to cure it cause I can't ignore it if it's love… makes me want to turn around and face me but I don't know nothing about love…" _Keiko chuckled to herself, hearing her own son's voice chime in (quieter) with Lyserg.

"_Oooh, come on, come on…turn a little faster…come on, come on, the world will follow after…come on, come on, cause everyone's after love…" _Keiko poked her head out to see the two standing on the staircase, singing. Lyserg's voice went perfectly up and down the scales, the natural singer he was. He was standing two steps above Yoh, leaning against the railing and just letting out his voice. Yoh was watching him with something more than admiration. Keiko giggled to herself. Only one person could make her son be all like this.

Lyserg suddenly stopped, no doubt noticing that someone else was listening in with them. "Hello, Ms. Asakura. Care for a recording? It's only five dollars."

"Already selling a label? That's wonderful Lyserg, keep it up." Keiko smiled and disappeared into the kitchen.

"You're really good," Yoh breathed, and the way he said it plus the way he was standing suggested he had said this many times before.

"That's why I'm the vocals," Lyserg shrugged. "_These lines of lightning mean we're never alone, never alone…"_

"_There's no escaping your love_," Yoh murmured, caught up in the moment. Keiko wasn't looking and they seemed alone. He stepped up and leaned closer to Lyserg, the adrenaline of the moment rushing through him.

"Hey, that's before…" Lyserg protested, before trailing off. Yoh was leaning closer still, his lips a few inches away from Lyserg's, their breath the only sound in the deserted hallway. Lyserg felt his nerves tighten as Yoh let go of the railing behind him and stepped even closer.

"Yoh, don't bonk my head again," Lyserg warned, his voice shaking slightly as he tried to find a way to escape this growingly awkward situation and found he had no place to go. Yoh had placed his hands on either side of Lyserg, holding onto the railing the greenette was leaned against.

"I wasn't going to." God he was getting horny. Lyserg shivered as he felt Yoh's warm breath on his face. A kiss was almost unavoidable now and Yoh had never ever come this close to him before. Lyserg felt his face heat up.

_What's stopping me from letting Yoh kiss me?_

_The fact that I like Horo, duh!_ But that itself sounded so feeble against the strange little part of him that had suddenly grown stronger and was egging on the situation.

"Wait." Lyserg slid a finger in-between their lips, quickly stopping Yoh's advances. That was so very close. "Um…I…I think I should go now."

"Are you sure?" Yoh couldn't hide his disappointment at being so close as he backed away. "I'm sorry that was a little awkward, I didn't mean to put you on the spot like that."

"It's okay…I mean, it wasn't _okay_, cause it was really weird and uncomfortable, but it wasn't like you were molesting me…that would be _awkward_…but…yeah…" Lyserg's face was cherry red, and he was more flustered than Yoh had ever seen him. Lyserg had become the calm, cool, collect person who only spoke barbs and never revealed how he really _really_ felt…now all because of one little thing, he was starting to unravel and turn back into the shy boy Yoh had grown up with.

"Do…you want me to walk you home?"

"Um, maybe some other time…see you later, Yoh!" Lyserg ducked away from Yoh and scampered into the kitchen to grab his carrier bag and leave out the backdoor. Keiko raised her eyebrows as she noticed Lyserg rush into the kitchen and grab his bag without saying a word. "Leaving so soon, Lyserg?"

"Yeah…see you later, Ms. Asakura." Keiko stared at the door, which Lyserg had practically flown out of and turned as Yoh trudged into the kitchen.

"What was that about, Yoh?"

"Nothing."

"Hey mom."

Jean Diethyl looked up from her romance novel as her son entered the kitchen and got himself a Pepsi from the fridge. She took a sip from her Earl Grey in front of her in its cute little teacup and blinked again as she surveyed her son. He seemed different somehow…he looked less confident at the moment. "What is it, dear?"

"Um…can I talk to you?" Lyserg was avoiding his mother's eye at the moment, turning away with a reddened face.

"You can talk to me about anything, honey. What's wrong?"

"Um…um…" Lyserg grimaced as he slid in the seat across from his mother. This was hard to bring up. "Um, mom, I think Yoh likes me."

"Of course he does, dear," Jean said calmly, turning back to her romance novel.

"No, not like that, mom." Jean looked up at her son and saw his face was still red. "Yoh _likes_ me, mom."

"Does he now?"

"Mom, don't tell me you _knew_ about this?"

"Not really…" Jean decided not to mention the times she had spoken to Keiko over the phone. One of those times, Keiko had phoned her during dinner and before she could even say 'hello', Keiko had rushed into the conversation. "Jean! You'll never guess what I found about Yoh that involves Lyserg! Turns out…"

"I mean, how do you know?" Jean continued.

"He tried to kiss me at his house," Lyserg mumbled, wishing it didn't sound so awkward to tell to his own mother. God, he hated talking to his mom about things like this. He avoided it at all costs, but he was in a bind at the moment and he wasn't sure how to get out. Besides, his mom should know about things like this, right? She was married _and_ she wrote romance novels for a living! They're weren't immediate best sellers, but he knew a lot of middle aged women in the neighborhood that were big fans of his mother's work.

"How?"

"He leaned up really close to me and…what do you mean HOW mum, why does it matter? The fact is that he did!" Lyserg's accent was starting to creep up as he got more agitated.

"Did you want him too?" Jean asked, still engrossed in her novel.

She looked up when Lyserg didn't answer immediately. Her son was looking away, and with an expression she hadn't seen since the sixth grade. A look of complete vulnerability and utter helplessness. "Um…well, I wouldn't _mind_ exactly…but I can't like Yoh."

"What do you mean you _can't_?"

"I like someone else," Lyserg mumbled. This was so uncomfortable and he was wondering if he would have been better off looking up Dear Abby's on the Internet.

No, his father would look up the history to find his ESPN site and wonder who was looking up Dear Abby…THAT would be embarrassing.

"Does this person like you back?"

Lyserg frowned, although it somehow managed to soften his features at the same time. "No…" Horo didn't like him. It was completely obvious and no matter what he told himself, he knew the Usui never would. At least, not in that way. He was only fooling himself thinking that he would be able to change that.

Whereas Yoh already _did_ like him, and they _were_ pretty close anyway…

He wouldn't mind going out with Yoh. He might appear harsh to that Asakura, but in fact he really cared a lot about Yoh. After all, Yoh had been his lifeline for a long time before he decided to cut himself loose to explore on his own. The comfort of being cared for and looked after…he hadn't felt that in a long time.

He decided he missed the feeling. Did that mean he liked Yoh now?

"It sounds like you've started liking Yoh accidentally," Jean concluded, taking another sip of her tea. "I can see it on your face. You're a cutie, Lyserg. I'd be surprised if Yoh _didn't_ like you."

"Will I grow out of it?"

"I don't know."

"What should I do?"

"I don't know."

Lyserg glared at his mother. "You're supposed to be a romance novelist, mom. You should know these kinds of things."

"Yes, but I set up my characters in a setting which I control. I can't control what you or Yoh does. Besides, I've never written anything about two boys falling in love before."

"We're _not_ in love!" Lyserg shouted, feeling his blush come back. He stood up suddenly and grabbed his Pepsi. "I'm not sure how I feel about Yoh, but it definitely isn't love!" He was so confused right now and he had been happy not knowing about Yoh's feelings. He wished it never happened. He was fine as it was before.

But he _did_ feel somewhat…happy…knowing Yoh felt the way he did.

Or was he reading too much into it?

Keiko was just about to start cooking when the doorbell rang. She glanced out of the kitchen window and saw a familiar pickup truck in the driveway. "Yoh, Mikihisa's here."

"Really?" Yoh's voice floated over to the kitchen from where he was in the living room, reading something.

Keiko opened the door and blinked, a confused albeit happy smile suddenly drawn on her face. Mikihisa was sporting his trademark ponytail again with a black T-shirt and jeans. Hao was standing next to him, looking bored in a baby tee that flattered his figure and baggy black pants that looked two sizes too big, being kept up by a star studded black belt.

"Take out?" Mikihisa said jokingly, holding up a few boxes of food.

"Maybe not the most romantic getting-back-together kind of dinner, but I'll take it," Keiko smirked. She opened the door wider and the two stepped into the house. Yoh was standing in the doorway to the living room, his eyes widening slightly as he saw his brother.

"Hey, Hao."

"Utouto." Hao smiled. "What's up?"

"Nothing."

"Lyserg's not here?" Hao asked, looking around. "Strange. He seems to practically live here…but you'd like that wouldn't you?"

Yoh glared at him as Keiko and Mikihisa side stepped around them and tried to blend into the background.

"No, he's not _here_, Hao. Things popped up and he went home."

"What kind of _things_ dear brother?"

Yoh rolled his eyes. "Leave me alone," he muttered, turning and leaving the room. Hao followed him.

"That was sudden," Keiko said slowly. She started to unwrap the takeout when she felt arms circle her waist and turn her around. Mikihisa smiled as he pulled her closer to him, smiling in her dark hair.

"_That_ was sudden," Keiko said again, this time giggling as she said it. "Getting all touchy feeling, aren't we?"

"That's right. I haven't seen you for a long time and I missed you."

"You saw me this afternoon," Keiko said, looking up at her ex, frowning. Hmm…Mickey hadn't shaved today. And that was strangely suiting.

"Alright…then I haven't _kissed_ you in a long time."

Keiko blushed. "You _kissed_ me after our date and you _kissed_ me when you left, which was…hmm, two hours ago!" She glanced at the clock above his head.

"Don't tell me you didn't miss _that_."

Keiko groaned. "I guess not."

"Let's catch up." Mikihisa leaned down and propped Keiko's chin up.

"The kids are here," Keiko whispered.

"So? Let them see. We're going to be living together soon, aren't we?"

Keiko rolled her eyes. "I _guess_."

Mikihisa smiled and kissed Keiko gently on the lips, smiling slightly as he felt her respond. It was all soft, timid, full of feeling. Mickey knew he had to taking it slow. He wanted to, anyway. Keiko wrapped her arms around her ex's neck, and as she was leaning forward, a flash of color caught her eye.

Leaning backward, Keiko frowned. "This is _lipstick_ on your collar, isn't it?"

Mikihisa looked down. There was a telltale sign of a smudge of pink lipstick on his collar. It wasn't in its trademark lip mark, and it wasn't as obvious as if would be on a dress shirt, but Keiko still checked his neck anyway, breathing a sigh of relief as she found it unmarked. Her relief was replaced by suspicion almost instantly.

"Who's it from?"

Mickey shrugged, feeling a slight panic fill him as Keiko broke out his grasp. "You weren't wearing that shirt when I left from work. Who could you have met during that short time?" Keiko paused to think about it and frowned. "Kimi," she said, no spat.

"Look, you're reading way into this and it's now what seems. I was getting my coat after you left and she suggested a place where I could pick up something to surprise you. I told her I wanted to change first so she waited by the car as I changed clothes…"

"She was watching you change?" Keiko asked, horrified.

"No! I don't think so, at least. I didn't want her to. Anyway, after that, I told her to get in the car and we'd go over to the place she recommended…"

"Where was Hao?" Keiko asked. She was going to have to recruit her other son to be her spy.

"School. He was planning on signing up for basketball so he was going to stay behind and watch Horokeu's practice. Anyway, _nothing_ happened; she tripped on her way up the seat and fell onto my shoulder. I guess her mouth must have brushed against my collar."

"On _purpose_?"

"Of course not! Keiko, what are you saying? Anyway, we went and got some takeout and I drove her home. That Tao boy drove her son home already. I picked up Hao at her house and we came over here."

"So you went on a _date_ with her?"

"No! Keiko, what's wrong?"

"What's wrong? What's wrong is that you, who said we were supposed to be getting back together, seems to be getting a little personal with another woman! Is that what you want?"

"No!" Mikihisa sputtered, watching as Keiko started pulling (almost ripping) the covers off the takeout. "Keiko, you know I would never do that!"

"Well, I wouldn't know! I haven't known you for thirteen years! Kimi's coming on to you!" Keiko blurted, feeling frantic over loosing her husband again. "She likes you, Mickey, can't you tell?"

"Naw, she's just friendly. She supports us getting back together."

"While meeting with you? Secretly behind my back? She never tells me anything anymore, Mickey! Not about anything involving you! Stay away from her!" She couldn't help it but the last sentence had come out as an order.

"You're being unreasonable now, Keiko. Kimi's only a friend." He stopped, watching Keiko spoon the food into dishes quietly and angrily. "But if you don't want me to spend time with her, I'll stop."

Keiko turned, her expression angry but Mikihisa saw a glint of reassurance in her eyes. "Really?"

"You have my word."

Keiko smiled and dropped the spoon she was holding and wasted no time showing Mickey how she felt.

Note: Um…hopefully that was good…thank you ShinjukuAlligator for reading and reviewing this so far! Hopefully I will be getting more reviews! I haven't updated lately like I always do…that's what you get for a triple release, readers. Keep reading and reviewing, please! The next chapter might be a little shojo clichéd…sorry ahead of time.


	11. In and Out

**Disclaimer: If Shaman King were mine, I wouldn't need to write fanfics.**

Background music:

Not another school story, you say! Please, spare us! I would love to, but my invisible writing stalker won't let me! I promise I will skip over the dramatic shonen-ai shojo version, since I know probably no guys would actually do that, but there will shonen-ai! Pairings are still up in the air, but please know the love square before flaming me. The pairings I suggest may or may not be there in the end. And yes, there will be an end!

Note: I'm not sure if said this, but this is their sophomore year.

Chapter 11 – In and Out

Ren walked down the hallway, feeling slightly bothered that Yoh was acting so strange lately. After all, Yoh used to always pay attention to him when he was flirting with the younger twin, but now Yoh was spacing out so much it was unnatural. Lyserg was also acting a little weird around Yoh too. Something seemed to happen between the two and Hao was using it to his advantage.

"No, I am _not_ going to give you a lap dance," Lyserg had said rather loudly during a loud (but not loud enough) study hall. He glared at Hao, who just smirked and leaned closer to him and whispered something in his ear. Ren had overheard the words 'lap dance' and 'Yoh' in the very same sentence and was slightly startled when Lyserg turned an impressive shade of red when Hao leaned back. Ren couldn't help but repay Lyserg for the favor a few art classes ago.

"Should I try and capture _your_ shade of red?" Ren asked loudly, holding up a red pen. Lyserg seemed even more embarrassed and got up and sat next to Manta, who usually sat alone. Because of that, Manta was currently convinced that Lyserg was his friend and was now following the Diethyl around. At the moment, Lyserg was trying to lose the midget in one of the various hallways.

"Yo! Ren! Wait up!"

Ren turned and saw Horo jogging up to him. "Ren, what happened with Lyserg and Yoh?"

"I don't know." Ren frowned. "Yoh's out of it today."

"Yoh's _always _out of it."

"I know. But he wasn't even trying to pay attention."

Ren had been sitting _very_ close and being as voluptuous as possible, but Yoh had only nodded at him and continued to stare out at space. Normally, Yoh would have reacted, if not scooted farther away in fear. Okay, when Ren flirted, he _flirted_.

"Hmm. Hao seems to know about it."

Ren shrugged. "Why are you following me?"

"What else should I do?" Horo rested a hand on Ren's shoulder and pulled it off the instant Ren jumped at the contact. "What?"

"S-sorry…" Ren felt a shade of pink overcome his face. Why had Horo's hand sent sparks through him. Damn it. "Never mind."

At that very instant, Hao rounded the corner and nearly collided into them. "Yo my peeps! What's going through?"

"What?" Ren and Horo asked at the same time.

"What's the story, morning glory? What's the word, humming bird?" (Azumanga Daioh reference) Hao kept asking, pushing the two down the hallway. The two were too confused to tell Hao had an ulterior motive.

"What are you talking about?" Ren demanded, trying to walk in the opposite direction. However, Hao was pushing too hard for him to really resist.

"Where are you taking us?" Horo asked, curious. He really didn't have a problem with Hao…except that boy could be annoyingly straightforward and…just annoying.

"Places…wonderful, awesome places," Hao drawled. He gripped the two in his iron grasp and opened a door in front of them. The door revealed to be a tiny storage closet with no source of light.

"In you two go!" Hao shoved the two into the closet and before they could move, the door closed behind them and there was an unsettling sound of a lock.

"Hao! Let us out!" Ren shouted, moving to the door. There was hardly any room and he toppled over what felt like a metal bucket. Knowing for sure he now had a bruise on his shin, he fell forward and onto Horo.

Hao's laughter could be heard from behind the door. "Enjoy yourselves."

"Damn him," Ren muttered, then suddenly realized he was inches away from Horo's face. He tried to move, but suddenly there was a loud sound and they were buried by the various items in the closet.

Apparently, the bucket he tripped over was the only the first domino in the effect. It was the relieving triangle, the ramp, doorstop, whatever. With it gone from place, everything fell apart.

"Ouch."

"Ren can you move off of me?"

"If I could, I would." Ren was firmly pressed against Horo, feeling the older boy's body heat. He felt his face heat up and was glad it was dark enough so no one could see anything. Horo felt his heart race being so close to Ren.

"Do I feel a boner?"

"Shut up, Ren."

"Ag. Ag, ag, ag. You're horny, Horo."

"I am _not!_"

"Then I don't want to know what that thing poking into my hip is."

Horo blushed. He attempted to bring his hand up to slap Ren across the head when he encountered something on his way up that blocked access to his head.

"Horo, get your hand off my _ass_!"

"Okay, jeez!" Horo shifted and something fell, blocking his hand from moving backward.

"Shit. I can't move my hand, Ren."

"Great. At least _someone_'s going to enjoy their time in here," Ren grumbled. "Just don't start groping me, alright?"

"Fine." Horo smiled to himself, letting his hand rest where it was, feeling Ren squirm uncomfortably. After a time of struggle, Ren gave up and rest his head on Horo's chest. The two watched shadows flicker across the crack in the doorway and both were surprised when the other didn't immediately call out for help when someone walked past the door. Well, at least Horo was.

In Ren's defense, it was comfortable. The two spent most of the time in silence, Ren forcing (and failing) his heart's erratic beating to return to normal. Horo soon 'calmed down' and almost fell asleep.

"Horo?"

"…"

"Don't fall asleep on me, you asshole."

"I'm up."

Ren was silent. "Do you think…" he trailed off. He was bored and when he got bored, he started thinking. And when he started thinking, he started thinking out loud. And often times, he couldn't control speaking out loud.

"What?"

"Do you think Yoh's ever going to like me?" Hell, Horo knew and it wasn't as if someone was listening in on him. Horo was one of Yoh's confidants, along with Lyserg. Yoh was always there with Ren, but Yoh always kept his trap shut anyway.

Horo didn't reply for a minute. "I don't know," he said truthfully. Although he wanted to say 'No' and crush Ren's hopes (and hopefully, in that hopelessness state, he'd actually start falling for _him_), but a part of him knew he shouldn't lie to Ren. And he honestly didn't know. Then again, Yoh had already revealed that he liked Lyserg, but only in a drunk state, and didn't really say much about the subject.

"What does that mean?"

"You know Yoh. He's not interested in things like that. He's like a boy who goes through puberty and doesn't even think about looking at porn."

"You look at porn?" Ren asked disgustedly.

"No, that's not what I mean," Horo said quickly.

"Has Yoh told anything to you about the subject?" Ren's voice sounded soft and quiet, as if he wanted to know, but at the same time, didn't.

"Well…it was when he was drunk, so I don't think he was thinking about it…"

"What is it?"

"Well, like I said, he was drunk and he probably wasn't even thinking straight…"

"Tell me, Horokeu."

Horo grimaced. Whenever Ren used his first name, he found he couldn't resist. It was one of his weak spots. That and Ren's voice had been full of determination and strength. One of the reasons Horo found Ren irresistible: despite his height (or he was vertically challenged, he liked to say) and first impression, Ren was actually quite strong-willed and was willing to do anything to get his way. Strength…he liked that in a person. He sighed. "Well…if you don't want to hear it…"

"I do. Tell me."

Horo took a deep breath. "You know how Lyserg was on top of Yoh? Well…they were like that for a long time that night and Yoh was drunk…so he might have been impaired…"

"Say it," Ren said, although Horo could hear the despair in his voice.

"Yoh said…" Horo faltered. He hated doing this Ren. Hated hearing the hope disappear. But if Ren wanted to hear it, he'd have to say it. The thought of lying completely crossed his mind, but Horo believed in the truth. "He said to Lyserg… 'I so want to do you _so _badly, Lyserg.' I'm not sure if he really meant it or he was just drunk but…"

"Thank you," Ren whispered, and Horo jumped to hear the boy on top of him's voice crack. He felt Ren tremble and Horo leapt into action. "Listen, Yoh probably didn't mean it, he was drunk and when you're drunk you don't think…you don't know what you're saying…"

His mother really hadn't meant _You're a waste of space, you and your sister_

_Your father really left me with two annoyingly wasteful brats!_

_I hate you!_

"He meant it," Ren said, sounding utterly defeated and trying to stop the tears from coming. "Because…you've seen how Yoh gets whenever something bad happens to Lyserg. Remember a few days ago when Ryu was trying to lure Lyserg to go smoking with him? Lyserg was fine by himself but Yoh…he just _jumped_ in and saved him." Ren sniffed, feeling the tears trickle down his face and soaking Horo's shirt. "Like a fricking knight in shining armor, Horo. Like a fricking knight."

"I'm sorry," Horo said in a low voice.

"Don't be. I've known for a while that Yoh wasn't interested in me. I just didn't know it was Lyserg." Ren shifted slightly and Horo realized his shirt had teardrops on it. "Are you crying, Ren?"

"Yeah!" Ren said, the sorrow in his voice giving away to frustration. "I think you would too if someone who really changed your life didn't feel the same way you do!"

"Changed your life?"

"Yeah," Ren said bitterly. "I used to be an anti-social brat who didn't think friends were worth having, but Yoh showed me that some people are really nice…" His voice trailed off. "I wouldn't expect you to understand. No one's changed your life like that."

"Yeah. You."

Ren's eyes widened in the dark. "What?"

"You," Horo repeated. Hell, they were spilling their guts. What was the harm just going with the flow? After all, Ren knew he liked him. "I used to be hopeless…I mean, without hope, not like I was _hopeless_…but you've given me a reason to actually try. Yeah, cheesy, I know. Call me on it."

"American cheese chessy," Ren admitted. "But thank you anyway."

Horo chuckled. "Well, that's you. Now I have a question for you."

"What?"

"Is there any way _you_ would ever like me?"

Ren felt his heart suddenly start racing. Horo? Would he ever like Horo?

"No," he said automatically, although he had considered it. Horo was a nice person…strange and stupid sometimes, yes, but nice.

"Well, thank you," Horo said sarcastically. "Well, I'm just fine with you knowing about it and respecting me for it."

_Yes, I respect you for coming out with it_ "I never said I _respected_ you for it."

"You're _so_ mean, Ren. Sometimes I wonder why I like you."

"Hey, you're rubbing my ass now."

"I'd be rubbing your _back_, but I can't reach it. I'll have to make do."

"Yeah, you wanna _do_ me."

"Hey. Do you want another boner?"

"Ew! Stop!"

"So…wanna hang out at my house?"

"No, Manta, I'm busy all week," Lyserg said, trying to walk quickly down the hall. Strange…Manta had such short legs but he was keeping up with him so well.

"No really, it'll be fun!" Manta was wearing a school shirt normally issued to fourth graders and his tie was more like a scarf. He trotted down the hall next to Lyserg. "We can talk about…stuff!"

"I don't want to talk about stuff, Manta," Lyserg said, wondering if Hao could just come and save him from Manta. He was that desperate.

"Not even about Asakura Yoh?"

Lyserg stopped in his tracks and Manta quickly caught up to him, knowing he had struck the greenette's Achilles heel. "I heard what Hao said, about 'giving Yoh a lap dance'," he panted. Okay, it was hard to keep up with someone whose legs were longer than yours. "So do you like him?"

"Of course I like Yoh. He's my friend," Lyserg said, sounding a little strained.

"You know what I mean," Manta said, sounding like a girl in a gossip group. "Like like him?"

Lyserg turned, a little frown on his face. "Why are we talking about this?"

Manta smiled, creepily. Lyserg turned back down the hallway and found salvation in a single door. Feeling liberated, he started walking toward it. He really didn't want to discuss his private life with this midget.

"Where are you going?"

"To see the school psychiatrist," Lyserg said, a twisted smile crossing his face. "You're right…I should really talk about it."

Manta stopped in his tracks for a moment before sprinting to keep up with Lyserg. "Wait! You're not really going to be talking to…Marco…are you?!"

"Yeah, actually, I am. Have a problem with it?" He arrived at the school psychiatrist's door, and looked back down at Manta. Manta didn't look like he was going to budge, as if daring Lyserg to go in. Shrugging, Lyserg reached for the doorknob and turned. Manta's face started to turn white.

"Marco!" Lyserg called, laughing to himself as Manta started backing away. This shrimp really thought he was bluffing, wasn't he? Lyserg smiled and stepped into the office, closing the door behind him.

Marco looked up from the desk he was sitting in, his eyes looking above his rimless spectacles. He had been writing something amidst his paper filled desk as he looked up, his work space the only messy part of the whole room. There was a peaceful spot with a couch where students could spill their guts in the traditional shrink way.

Marco even kept files on every student that came to see him.

"Can I help you, Mr. Diethyl?" Marco asked.

"Oh, not really. I was just trying to escape from someone." Lyserg tried to look through the misted pane and decided that Manta had scampered. "Okay, I guess I can go now…" Lyserg reached for the door handle.

"Wait a minute. I've been hearing things about you."

"Good things, I hope," Lyserg laughed, his hand resting on the door knob. Marco was a friendly guy. He didn't really quite understand why everyone at school was so weirded out to go to see the school counselor.

"Hmm…you could say." Marco sat back at his desk. "I've been having some _talks_ with Jeanne lately."

Ag. _Talks_. Jeanne was another teacher Lyserg had no problem being friends with. Except he hadn't exactly talked to the French teacher in a while. He didn't even take French. He was fluent in Spanish, English, and Japanese, thank you very much.

"She said you've been having a falling out with one of your friends."

"And she knows this _how_?" Lyserg said, the smile still on his face.

"She watches, Mr. Diethyl. I'm sure you know your friend Mr. Asakura…Yoh, I mean," Marco added, as Lyserg opened his mouth to ask which one, "takes French…Jeanne says he's been quiet lately and that you two usually walk to your next class together. Except you haven't been doing that as of late."

Lyserg didn't say anything.

"I don't walk around the school for nothing," Marco said shortly before coughing lightly in his hand. "I've been _watching _you."

Okay, now he was starting to understand the freakiness of this office.

"Care to elaborate?" Marco asked, pulling out a legal pad. "Is it friendship issues? Peer pressure?" Marco paused for a moment. "Relationship issues?"

Feeling his face heat up, Lyserg tried to open the door to leave but found himself oddly unable to move. Frozen by panic (or fear of realization?), Lyserg tried to make himself move when the doorknob suddenly turned on its own and the door swung outwards, causing Lyserg to let go of the knob and fall backwards.

"Lyserg! There you are! I've been looking for you!" Catching him at the right moment, Lyserg turned to see Yoh's concerned face staring down at him. "We're late for next class and I was looking for you when I saw you through the window. What's wrong?"

"Nothing," Lyserg muttered, quickly getting to his feet and avoided looking at the counselor, who was looking amused. "You should have someone check on the door if someone can see through it so easily," he mumbled, pulling Yoh out of the doorway.

"Come by anytime," Marco called as the door shut behind them.

"Is something wrong? You actually went to _Marco_," Yoh said, following Lyserg. "I guess I saved you from _something_."

"You didn't save me from something," Lyserg defended, knowing the blush on his face hadn't disappeared yet.

Yoh looked at him for a minute. "Lyserg, are you embarrassed?"

"No!" Lyserg spun around, his eyes flashing anger for a moment. "I am _not embarrassed_ and I don't care what you say! I don't care if you like me or you want to do me but just STOP…" He was cut off as Yoh slipped a hand onto his cheek, gently, and smiled.

"You're _so_ cute when you're like this, Lyserg."

"Stop! We're at school!" Lyserg hissed, his face reddening as Yoh chuckled. "Get…get your hand…" But he couldn't finish his sentence, he was feeling so preoccupied.

"What, now?" Yoh chuckled again as he moved closer. Lyserg reached out and put his hands on Yoh's shoulders, as if to widen the already diminished space between them, but the Asakura felt no pressure push him back. He let his hand drop and circle itself around Lyserg's waist, feeling the smaller boy tense in his grasp.

"Y-Yoh…" Lyserg started again, but bit his tongue as Yoh just held him in his feather-like grip; holding, yet loose and comfortable. He hated the feeling of overwhelming shyness overcome him again, but Yoh was forcing it on him lately. His crush on Horo was already among the least thought about subjects in his head.

Yoh was gentle…so gentle and this felt so comfortable…Lyserg didn't make a sound as Yoh leaned down to kiss him, claim his perfectly pink lips for the younger twin's own…

Crash. "Shit."

The two leapt apart and turned to a door next to them. There sounded like there was someone behind it.

"Horo, what was that for?"

"Hey, I'm sorry, I moved. I was feeling numb."

"So you have to push your big ass around? Great, they probably heard us."

"So? Like you care."

"Horo? Ren? What are you two doing there?" Yoh asked, bending down to speak through the crack at the door.

"Hao locked us in here," said Ren's voice.

"We've been in here for an entire period," Horo's voice chimed in.

"Why don't you get out?" Lyserg asked, pulling at the door handle, which came off in his hand. "How did that happen?"

There was a clonk on the other side of the door. "What fell?" Ren accused Horo.

"The doorknob," Yoh said, speaking through the hole. "Let us get a janitor. Are you guys hurt or uncomfortable?"

"Hurt, no, but I've been on top of Horo for a whole forty minutes," Ren said sarcastically. "So, no, we're peachy."

Yoh and Lyserg exchanged amused looks. "Well, we'll go get someone to get you two out! Just sit tight!"

"Or lie tight, whatever floats your boat," Lyserg added, as the two scampered off to get help.

Note: ew too much shojo. thank you for all your reviews! it makes me feel loved! thank you! also, there will be a sequel, although i'm having a few bouts of writer's block. i have at least three chapters written for it though.

SHAMAN KING REPRINT MARCH 4! GET EXCITED!


	12. Slip, Trip, Fall

**Disclaimer: If Shaman King were mine, I wouldn't need to write fanfics.**

Background music:

Not another school story, you say! Please, spare us! I would love to, but my invisible writing stalker won't let me! I promise I will skip over the dramatic shonen-ai shojo version, since I know probably no guys would actually do that, but there will shonen-ai! Pairings are still up in the air, but please know the love square before flaming me. The pairings I suggest may or may not be there in the end. And yes, there will be an end!

Chapter 12 – Slip, Trip, Fall

Keiko sighed, rubbing her head. This case about this juvenile stealing inflatable pools…this had to be a joke, right?

I mean, a secretary stealing a husband (ex, shut up) would be more appropriate.

Kimi had been a lot more giggly and bubbly lately and mostly when Mikihisa had somehow crept into the conversation. Thinking about it, Mickey hadn't come to see her lately, but Kimi had been gushing to someone (Keiko will tell you she was NO WHERE near the break room at the time but swears this is true) about how she had been meeting this great guy for more than a _few_ drinks and dinners. It didn't take Keiko much to add it all up. She was a lawyer, for crying out loud!

"Hey, Mickey, can we go out for dinner tomorrow night?"

"Hmm…ah, sorry, I'm busy tomorrow…"

"With whom?"

"Friends. Sorry, Keiko, what about Saturday?"

Some husband he was. Saying he was going to stay away…she'd like to see how Mickey would try juggling two women at once.

Then again she hadn't proved the man Kimi was meeting _was_ Mickey…

Her phone started ringing suddenly. Kimi was on line one. Picking it up, Keiko raised her eyebrows. What would it be this time? "Hello?"

"Ms. Keiko! There's a call for you on line two! …Oh, wait, never mind…the person hung up. Oh well. Sorry about that. Talk to you later!" Hanging up prematurely, Keiko looked at the phone, frowning. The button for line two was still flashing. She knew she shouldn't pry…this was going to end badly. Still, Keiko pressed line two and put the phone to her ear.

"That was close," she heard Kimi say.

"I told you not to tell her about me calling," Mikihisa said. Keiko's eyes widened.

"Sorry!" Kimi giggled. "So are we on tonight?"

"How many tonights have there been?" Keiko asked, her voice sounding out in the empty office. There was a gasp from Kimi's end and Mikihisa already started speaking. "Keiko! It's not what it sounds like! Listen, Kimi and I…" Keiko didn't hear anymore as she slammed the phone back down. Automatically, Kimi burst in, looking terrified. "Ms. Keiko! Please hear me out! It's NOT what it sounds like!"

"I don't need your explanations!" Keiko shouted. "I've known about your little meetings. Enjoying my ex husband? Knowing full well that we were planning to GET BACK TOGETHER?"

"Ms. Keiko, please!" Kimi begged, tears springing to her eyes. "Please! Listen to me…hear me out…Mickey and I…"

"Who told you you could use his nickname?" Keiko asked, her eyes narrowing.

"He did," Kimi said, then covered her mouth.

"Get out," Keiko hissed, knowing full well that this was personal. Personal business was supposed to be different from business itself but right now she was so mad…so mad… "You're _fired_."

"No! You can't do this to me! I have a family…Pirka…Horo…"

"You should have thought of that before kissing up to my husband," Keiko said smoothly, turning back to her papers. "You're fired, and if you're lucky, this won't get around. I have a few connections here, you know."

"Please," Kimi said, tears streaming down her face. "This is _not_ what it was like!"

"That's what they all say," Keiko barked. "Get out of my office and pack your things. You had this coming."

"Horo…" Kimi sobbed. "Please…I don't want him to be the only one supporting our family…he shouldn't be…he _shouldn't_ be…"

"Get out before you wet everything you look at," Keiko said disgustingly. "And you're _never_ seeing Mickey again, do you hear?"

"But…but…our friendship…we're still…"

"I'm sorry, Kimi, but _you're_ the one who was dishonest."

Kimi tried to regain her posture, trying to regain some dignity. "Ms. Keiko…" she stammered out. "If you feel th-that way, then th-there's nothing I can do. There was n-nothing going between us and I was o-only helping you…"

"Get out, Kimi Usui."

Kimi nodded, trying to hide her tears. This had been her first steady job. This was NOT the way she was envisioning it ending. She had hoped she could resign by telling Keiko that she had finally started climbing up the social ladder. She was hoping to go to law school and be a lawyer with her best friend…but now that dream was shattered and her best friend was furious at her. This was horrible.

It was a terrible day. The worst it had ever been.

Taking the bus home still sobbing, Kimi stared down at the various picture frames she had in the box in front of her. The paycheck she had gotten a few weeks ago would last them a few months, along with the saved money she had, if they used it frugally. Maybe she would be able to land a new job. Maybe she would be back on her feet.

Maybe not.

Keiko had been the one who had reached out for her. She was painfully shy, and she was sure she could not go through another job interview. Keiko's had been a free, relaxed one, and she was sure other bosses would not be as lenient.

God, she was craving a scotch.

Dropping the box on the kitchen floor, ignoring the sound of shattering glass, Kimi ignored it and started searching her cabinets, hiccupping. _No, don't do this, Kimi! You're stronger than this!_

Her hand reached the stored away (for all eternity, it had been) bottle of brandy. _No! Think of the kids! Keiko will understand if you explain it to her!_

She reached for a glass, a regular drinking glass, already remembering how she felt when this liquid hit her lips. So clear…so refreshing…maybe she would be better this time without her dead _husband_ haunting her.

She fell to the ground as her knees trembled, the emotion too much for her to stand. Her husband…her _kids_…alone…alone! All because she was so worthless she couldn't stand up for herself or do anything about anything! Useless! Her hand shaking, Kimi reached for the bottle cap.

_Stop! Don't drink! You've been sober for such a long time!_

_Don't throw it away!_

_Kimi! Listen to yourself!_

_Stop!_

Kimi smiled weakly to herself as she saw the alcohol swish into the glass she poured it in. "Aw, you look so g-good," she whispered, her voice still trembling.

_Stop!_ But it was becoming feeble…

"Just one glass won't hurt," she mumbled, some brandy hitting the floor as she missed the glass a bit. Her hands…trembling so much…her eyes were blurred and she couldn't even see straight. She remembered the feeling of anticipation and it was gripping her again. So sweet…

"Just one glass. Horo doesn't need to know. He'll help me. I can do this." She closed her eyes. "For my children's health. May the…oh, hell…" With one motion, disregarding her sobriety, she tipped the contents of the glass down the hatch.

_That_ had been an awkward day. Horo had decided not to wait up for Ren and walked the fifteen minute walk to the bus stop. It was embarrassing enough that the hallways had been packed with students rushing to fifth period when the janitor managed to finally get them out. That meant that almost half the student population had seen them on top of each other.

Which meant the whole school knew. The whole school had seen his hand on Ren's ass and the sexy way Ren was splayed on top of him (he had no idea Ren looked like that in the dark!).

There were make-out rumors all right…

Yoh and Lyserg hadn't been very helpful, humor dancing on their faces as the two were finally let out. Not even Ren's threat to reveal _how_ the two had found out about the locked door made Lyserg stop smirking.

Getting off the bus, Horo frowned as he saw Pirka crying on the doorstep. Jogging up to her, he searched her tearstained face for an explanation.

"Pirka. Talk to me. Was there a break in?"

Pirka shook her head, her mouth seemingly glued together. She was gripping her bag to her stomach, looking as if she was about to throw up.

"Did someone violate you?"

Pirka shook her head, more forcefully this time. "Worse," she croaked. She looked up at her brother, and Horo saw her red tinted eyes.

"Worse? What do you mean…" Horo's eyes widened. "You don't mean…"

"Mom," Pirka choked, rocking back and forth. "I found her in the kitchen…she was ranting already…I was so scared, onii-chan! Stop her!"

"Ah, shit. Shit. Did you try and take the stuff from her?" Horo stepped over her to get in the house.

"Yes. I tried. I begged, I begged, Horo…did everything!" Pirka sniffed. "She wouldn't let me close to her, saying something like…something like… 'Fired' or something…"

Horo groaned as he ran into the kitchen. Kimi was sitting in the floor, still in her work clothes. She was gripping the brandy bottle, the remnants of a shattered glass lying close to her. Horo's eyes widened as he saw blood on her hand and blood on the floor.

"Mom! You…what did you do?!"

"Horo…ah, there you are…" Kimi laughed. Horo glanced at a box lying close to his feet. There was shattered frame on the top of the stuff in it, a picture of the three of them smiling in front of their house. It had been their _new_ house back then. Kimi had already found a friend too.

"Keiko…oh, that overreacting _bitch_…" Horo jumped to hear his mother swear. "She thought I was…hic…having an _affair_ with Mickey…she told me not to say that…" She giggled. "Mickey…Mickey…see how you like _that_!"

"Mom. What happened?" Horo walked up to his mother cautiously, but his mother didn't turn violent like she used to, pelting him with bottles. She giggled and hiccupped as Horo gently took the bottle from her hands. He was shocked to see another empty bottle peeking out from behind her. "How many bottles…?"

"Three…" Kimi giggled, pointing to a broken bottle a few feet away. "Keiko…she _laid me off_, Horo…isn't that totally funny?" Kimi laughed, her face flushed.

"Why would she do that?"

"You know Yoh's…Yoh's…what was he…grandfather, that's it! His grandfather…Mikihisa?"

"Father."

"Hmm. Anyway, he…his grandfather was going to get back together with his aunt…"

"His father was going back with his mom, yeah…" Horo nodded. Kimi was being strangely obedient this time around.

"Yeah…well…Mickey asked me about weeks ago that if I were Keiko's close friend…would I be willing to go out and talk about her with him? So he could find out how to surprise her? I said yes…because I was interested in him…liked him, blah, blah…but he said he had no eyes for anyone else but Keiko…and I was okay with that…so I flirted with him. So what? He wasn't ever going to be interested with me. So we talked…we talked…about _her_…it was all for her…all about _her_…and now she has the guts to yell at me about coming on to him?" Kimi was near shouting right now.

"Mom. You're intoxicated. Calm down. Let's get you up to bed now and…"

"Shut _up_, and I _mean_ it this time." Kimi glared at him through glossy eyes and threw the bottle in her hand at him, hitting him across the cheek strangely on mark.

The violent side was starting to awaken. Horo felt a shiver of fear coarse through him but he had to be strong. Be strong for Pirka, who was still shivering on the front step.

"Mom, we need to get you to the Center."

"NO!" Kimi shouted. "I'm _not_ going to the CENTER! GET ME A CAR! I'M GOING TO SEE KEIKO!"

"Mom…" Horo said softly. "We don't _have_ a car."

"I'll _steal_ one, then," Kimi said, her voice mocking. "Don't you have a fucking BRAIN? Use it!"

Rubbing his cheek, Horo tried to keep in control. "Listen, mom, please…come with me and we'll get to the Center. Pirka's scared, mom, Pirka…"

"What about that lazy sister of yours? That lazy bum!" Kimi tried to stand on shaky legs and threw her head back. "I always hated your sister. Whining all the time…and when I said no, she'd whine to you! Whine and whine until you let her have what she wanted. You always had an annoying sister complex. Don't you know you're spoiling her _and_ ruining the family at the same time?"

Horo turned and saw Pirka. She had come in to check on them and was now backing away, her ears covered firmly by her hands. Her eyes were filling up with tears.

"She was being so selfish," Kimi continued. "So DAMN selfish! Oh, sometimes I wished I could just disown her…but who'd take in a noisy, nosy, whiny, self-centered brat?"

"I'm sorry!" Pirka shouted, dashing out of the house. "I'm going to Tamao's!"

Horo breathed a silent sigh of relief. If anyone could calm Pirka down, it was definitely her pink haired best friend, Tamao.

"Ag. She's gone, the little slug." Kimi started wobbling toward the door. "Get me to the car, Horo."

"We don't have a car."

"We don't _got_ a car," Kimi corrected. "And now we're going to _got_ one. Gimme the keys."

Horo stood there, watching his mother unsteady on her feet at the doorway. Kimi glared at him again and grabbed the closest thing she had; a stiletto. "Get me the keys!" She pelted Horo with the heel; the boy caught it easily with one hand. He wasn't on basketball for nothing.

"Mom, listen to me. You're acting strange again and just follow me…we'll get someone and…"

"Listen to you. Why should I ever listen to _you_? You're just a boy! Just a runny nosed crybaby! Remember back at your father's funeral? You were five and _bawling_ your eyes out…god, I told you to stop! Told you to respect your father! And what did you do?!"

Horo opened his mouth to attempt to calm his mother down but she ignored him and stormed out. Horo stood there stock still for a moment, breathing heavily. This fear hadn't come through him for so long…the fear of the reek of alcohol…

There was a loud screeching of tires and a loud audible crash. Horo's eyes widened as he ran out of the house, panic turning his pale blue irises almost snow white. "MOM!"

Note: Dun, dun, dun! PANIC AND SCREAMING! No, hopefully this was a nice breath of fresh air from the last chapter, which had been described as 'cliché'. I apologize again for that. The next two chapters (last two) will be updated at the same time, because they technically go hand in hand with each other. And after that, maybe a few days break before I put up my sequel…oh baby. MANKIN REVIVAL! CELEBRATE, FOR NOW I WILL NOT HAVE TO MAKE UP WHAT I BELIEVE THE ENDING OF SHAMAN KING TO BE LIKE!


	13. White Sheets, Black Heart

**Disclaimer: If Shaman King were mine, I wouldn't need to write fanfics.**

Background music:

Not another school story, you say! Please, spare us! I would love to, but my invisible writing stalker won't let me! I promise I will skip over the dramatic shonen-ai shojo version, since I know probably no guys would actually do that, but there will shonen-ai! Pairings are still up in the air, but please know the love square before flaming me. The pairings I suggest may or may not be there in the end. And yes, there will be an end!

Chapter 13 –White Sheets, Black Heart

Lyserg fumbled with the door handle on his mother's door. Yoh's voice had sounded so panicked over the phone and all he heard were the words 'Horo's mother' and 'accident' and 'hospital'. What happened? It had to be terrible for Yoh to lose his voice like that.

"Should I come in?" Jean asked, then shook her head. "What am I asking? Of course I need to check on Kimi. I'll go park and you find me later, alright?"

"Hmm! Thanks for driving me here!" Lyserg called as he ran into the emergency room. A nurse rushed up to him, panicked before she realized he was fine.

"Hello, this is the trauma center…"

"Kimi Usui!" Lyserg panted.

"Usui…oh, yes, she was admitted an hour ago. Your relation?" The nurse pulled out a chart from behind the counter. She had sensed this pretty…um, boy's urgency.

"My friend's mother!" Lyserg said, resting for a moment on the counter. "Um…have you seen him? Blue hair…you can't miss him."

"Oh! That boy! He's been outside the ER for the whole surgery…he should still be there…do you know the boy with the headphones?"

"Yoh…" Lyserg glanced down the hallway. "Can you take me to them?"

Yoh buried his head in his arms, sitting against the wall, his knees pressed to his chest. Horo was pacing in front of him, a few feet away from the ER. Yoh groaned softly…he hated the smell of hospitals.

"I can't believe this happened…" Horo kept mumbling. He glanced into the waiting room, where Pirka was crying, being consoled by Tamao, her friend from school. Tamao could be shy and quiet at times, but she was an awesome listener and was the best at making someone feel better. She had helped Pirka through many tough times and Horo was certain that she would work wonders on his little sister. Tamao was patting Pirka's back, murmuring comforting words as Pirka sobbed.

Horo's gaze changed and instantly he felt his heart harden. Sitting a few chairs away was Keiko Asakura, looking dazed as Mikihisa sat next to her, his head in his hands. That woman…ruining his mother's carefully pieced together self esteem…all for that man! He'd never trusted Mickey for one second…he knew his mother was running into trouble meeting him constantly. But Keiko…the Keiko he had respected and was so polite to…he never _knew_ she could do something like this…

"Yoh!" Lyserg rounding the corner burst Horo out of his thoughts. Lyserg instantly fell to his knees and shuffled up to Yoh, enveloping the twin in a tight hug. Horo almost scoffed as Yoh looked up and hugged Lyserg back. What was this, a hotel?

"Horo, are you okay?" Lyserg asked, looking up at the blue haired boy. Horo nodded curtly.

"Yoh, where's Hao?" Lyserg asked. Yoh looked around. "He said he was going to get some coffee…"

Unbeknownst to them, Hao was currently watching the babies in the nursery. Wow…who could have known he was once that ugly and wrinkly?

"Is Ren here?" Lyserg continued, still being held tightly by Yoh. Horo shook his head. "I told him to come meet us here, but…"

"What happened?" asked a voice, and all three of them turned. Ren walked up to them, still donned in his school uniform. He glanced down at Lyserg, who was instantly let go of by Yoh. Horo was looking at him with a hard expression in his eyes. "Horo…what happened?"

"My mom got drunk and jumped into traffic," Horo said, spitting out each word with hate.

"I'm sorry…" Ren did his best not to step back. He'd never seen Horo so mad before.

"And it's all _your_ fault!" Horo shouted, turning to Yoh, who looked up shocked. "Maybe if you were more supportive of your mom getting back together she wouldn't have been all _insecure_!"

"What?" Yoh asked incredulously. "Horo, you're not thinking straight."

"_I'm _not thinking straight? My mom's in the ER!" Horo ignored the nurse who shushed him on her way past. "Why didn't you talk any sense in your own mother?!"

"Horo, stop, do you hear what you're saying?" Lyserg said, his voice trembling. Horo was the person in the group that had the most patience, and seeing him snap was scary. "Yoh would have had no way to know…"

"Of course that's what you say!" Horo said, turning on him. "You're _sleeping_ with him!"

Lyserg opened his eyes wide. "I…I'm _not_…yet at least…but Horo…"

"You're a slut," Horo muttered, turning back to the ER doors.

"Don't call him that." Everyone turned to Yoh, who had spoken in a low voice. Yoh looked up, looking calm, yet it was a kind of forced calm. "You're fighting with me, don't bring him in it."

"But he is," Horo insisted. "I should have known you were sleeping with him, Yoh. You're fucking crazy about him, it's like he's the only one you actually care about. Hello, Yoh, the world's bigger than someone you get kicks with."

Yoh made a movement to get up and sock one to Horo, but before he could even stand, Lyserg had thrown his arms around him, keeping him in a surprising strong vice grip to the floor. Ren had come forward and grabbed Horo's arm. Together, the minority of the group had managed to subdue a brewing fight.

"You two aren't thinking right," Lyserg said firmly. "Listen to yourselves. Calm down."

"Horo…let's go somewhere else to talk alright?" Ren said quietly, holding onto Horo in case he decided to do anything rash. "Standing in front of the ER will just make it worse."

Horo didn't give Lyserg and Yoh another look before storming off down the hall, Ren keeping a quick pace behind him. As the two disappeared behind the corner, Lyserg finally let Yoh go, but not before Yoh grabbed his arm, keeping Lyserg around him.

"Yoh…"

"Lyserg, are you okay?" Yoh looked up at him and managed a weak smile. "Horo didn't mean what he said."

"I know," Lyserg murmured, snuggling up closer to Yoh, who started hugging him back. "You really didn't need to…but thanks for defending me."

"It's the most I could do…" Yoh stared at the ER doors for a moment. "I just wish I could avoided this. Mom's been edgy lately and a few nights ago she asked me if I though Ms. Usui was interested in Mickey."

"What did you say?"

"I told her I didn't know, but I said…" Yoh looked down at his feet, as if the person to blame was there. "I said if she thought so, it probably was right, since she's usually right about those kinds of things."

"Oh, Yoh…" Lyserg didn't say anything else and let Yoh bury his head in his shoulder. He was fine just being there to comfort his troubled friend. He ignored a nurse that walked past them, looking a little amused to see two boys huddled on the floor together affectionately. Screw them.

"Hmm…" Lyserg pushed Yoh back gently to look at him. He had been considering saying this and hoped it was appropriate to say it at the moment. "Will a kiss make it better?"

"I'm not going to be shallow and a horrible friend and say yes…" Yoh smiled. "But I'd like one."

Lyserg chuckled and wrapped his arms around Yoh. "To make you feel better," he murmured, as he pulled Yoh closer. Yoh rolled his eyes and pressed his lips on Lyserg's, gently first, before making it more passionate. He took it slow, as not to overwhelm/embarrass (they _were_ in a hospital, after all…a rather public place…) the smaller boy, licking the greenette's bottom lip gently, requesting access. Once he got it, Yoh slipped tongue in, softly stroking Lyserg's, as he pulled the younger boy onto his lap. Lyserg pinned himself onto Yoh, deepening their kiss by tilting his head to let Yoh explore his mouth. This felt awesome…not exactly how he had imagined his first kiss, but it was with the right person, so did that really matter?

"Remember you probably shouldn't make out in the hallway where a gurney might run you two over," Hao commented, sliding down to sit next to Yoh. Yoh glanced at him out of the corner of his eye. Hao sipped the paper cup of coffee in his hand and winked.

Ren followed Horo down the hallways, wondering when the taller boy would stop. Maybe he should just let Horo let off his steam before trying to talk to him. He was still keeping a hold on Horo's arm, in case the Usui suddenly started going off again. Before he knew it, Horo had turned and walked straight into a storage closet, dragging Ren in and closing the door. With a click, Horo turned the light on.

"Closets seem to be a reoccurring theme, don't they?" Ren asked. Horo gave him a brief smile before turning away.

"How do you feel?" Ren asked quietly.

"Like shit. I could have done something, you know? I could have warned her not to see that Mikihisa guy. I told her there were other people to see. She told me she wasn't interested in him like that and it would be all fine in the end and that I worried too much. And me worrying usually ends up bad, cause I don't worry a lot."

Ren didn't say anything and stood behind him, waiting for him to continue.

"And maybe I couldn't have changed how she was laid off. Maybe I couldn't have stopped her from drinking. But I could have done something…_done_ something instead of trying to talk to her and let her get to me in that state. I just _stood_ there while she was a danger to the world and herself. And then she kind of stormed off and I didn't follow her for a minute…I let her out of my sight, Ren, and then she went and got run over…" Horo trailed off, before suddenly violently knocking a few bottles of pills off a shelf. Ren tensed, wondering what else would happen, but Horo just paused before bending over to pick them back up.

"The driver said that she had been standing at the curb, looking at all the cars and suddenly just stumbled out onto the road before he could have done anything. He couldn't have swerved or anything. And then she was just…just _hit_…" Horo stacked the bottles back on the shelf, speaking calmly as if commenting on the weather. "I just heard the sound and when I came out she was just lying in the middle of the road in her own blood. I couldn't think for a long time…I just dragged her back onto the lawn as the driver stopped and called for an ambulance…I'm just so glad Pirka wasn't there to see it. She's never seen blood like I have…" Horo covered his eyes with his hand and groaned. "It was horrible…my hands still smell like blood even though I've washed them a dozen times…I called Yoh and told him about it…I was going to let him have it, but it's not really his fault…they said she was going to be fine with this surgery but it just seems so _long_…"

They meaning the doctors.

"They said she had a concussion and a few broken ribs, nothing _too_ serious, but she was bleeding so much it couldn't have just been nothing…they said she was going to recover, and the percent of her not making it was close to none, cause the driver wasn't going that fast…I can't help but worry, you know? She hasn't drank in so long!"

Ren stepped forward and rested his hand lightly on Horo's shoulder. The Usui turned to look at him and Ren saw relief and a faint sign of comfort in the blue eyes looking back at him. "It's going to be fine, Horo. We're all going to be fine, and we're all leaving here in one piece and everything will go back to normal."

"Normal?" Horo scoffed. "You hate that word."

"But it's the truth," Ren insisted. "What happened before this and what's going to happen after this…it's all normal." Ren shrugged. "Correct me if I'm wrong."

"You're not." Horo sighed. "God, do you think Yoh's going to forgive me for saying that shit about Lyserg?"

"Yeah. It's Yoh we're talking about."

The two of them stood in silence for a while before Ren reached for the door. "Let's go actually to a place where it's not all cramped up, shall we? I'm a little claustrophobic after that little incident."

Horo laughed and as they left the storage closet, Ren looked down and saw Horo had slipped his hand into his. Ren gave the hand a squeeze, before turning away, oddly embarrassed. Horo looked to the boy next to him and chuckled. Ren was so cute when he was embarrassed.

Keiko groaned as she covered her face with her hands again. "This is horrible," she moaned. "This is all _my_ fault. I was overreacting…I was so _stupid_…"

"It's not your fault," Mikihisa said softly. Keiko had been in a state of panic when she arrived at the hospital, and seeing Mikihisa made it worse. She went off on him, yelling at him for sneaking off behind her back until he had reassured her that was not what happened.

"You…you and Kimi…" Keiko had hissed.

"Us," Mickey had said calmly. "We were discussing you, Keiko. I already told you I wasn't interested in her. I told her the first day we met, that I was only here to get back together with you. _You_'re the person I care most about, Keiko, and nothing's going to change that."

Keiko had a breakdown after that, collapsing in her ex-husband's arms.

Mikihisa had managed to calm his ex down, reducing her to a worrying mass of anxiety. Rubbing her back gently, Mikihisa murmured comforting words.

"I should have given you the benefit of the doubt…I didn't trust you, Mickey, or Kimi…oh, damn it…she'd never lie to me. Kimi's my _friend_ and I didn't even trust her…I _know_ her and she'd never do anything like that…she was all for us getting back together. She knew how hard the divorce on me was and she would easily give up something she wanted or liked for someone else's comfort…I mean, look at her kids…" Keiko groaned. "I've been so _stupid_…"

"What's done is done," Mickey said.

"I know, but if I hadn't overreacted, this wouldn't have happened. God, I was so STUPID!" Keiko groaned again.

"At least we know you're serious about us," Mickey said. "You always act like you don't care if you have me back, but I guess you really do."

"Of course I do." Keiko looked up at him. "Didn't you hear a word I said? I never stopped loving you."

Mikihisa didn't say anything as he pulled Keiko closer to him. She rested her head on his shoulder and closed her eyes. Today was just too tiring. "Mickey…do you think Kimi's going to forgive me after this?"

"If I know her, she's going to be crying to you when you do, saying it was all her fault." Mikihisa was silent. "And if I know alcoholics, I know she's probably not going to be buying any soon."

Keiko was quiet, not brining up Mickey's own accident. "Mickey…are we going to ever be together again?"

"Yes. Yes, but it will take time. Be patient." Mikihisa rubbed her head. "We're going to be fine."

TO THE NEXT CHAPTER!


	14. Renewal and a New Beginning

**Disclaimer: If Shaman King were mine, I wouldn't need to write fanfics.**

Background music: ---------

Note: I think you know the rap by now. This is the last chapter…you've waited for it, and now it's here! Enjoy!

Chapter 14 – Renewal and a New Beginning

"How are you feeling, Kimi?"

Kimi Usui opened her eyes slowly, and as her vision became clearer, she saw Keiko Asakura standing next to her. Jumping with a start, she started rapidly blinking and words started spilling out of her mouth. "Oh, dear, Ms. Keiko! Horokeu…Pirka…how are they? Where are they? Oh, please, it was nothing…nothing happened between me and Mickey! Oh! I mean Mikihisa! I mean…Mr. Asakura!"

"Calm down, Kimi!" Keiko laughed. "First of all, your children are fine. They're worried sick outside. In fact, all the children are worried sick outside. They only let me in first. Second of all, Mickey explained everything to me…" Keiko chuckled a little. "Well…I admit I was wrong. I was stupid and I overreacted. I'm sorry, Kimi. It was my fault all this happened."

"Don't apologize!" Kimi cried. "It was my fault! I should never have kept anything from you! I'm a rotten friend and I deserved this! I deserved this!"

"No, please, Kimi, it was not your fault. You were only trying to help me and Mickey…"

"It was my fault and I deserved it," Kimi said strictly. "If not for being a bad friend, then for drinking and breaking my sobriety. For that, I take the blame."

"It was my fault. I shouldn't have fired you. Then you wouldn't have drank."

"It was my fault that I was keeping secrets from you. I should have been less…suspicious…no, that's not what I meant!"

"Stop!" Keiko threw her hands in the air and Kimi skidded to a stop. Keiko looked so serious for a moment that Kimi was momentarily mute, before her friend suddenly started laughing. "We both have something to blame for this accident, are you happy? Just consider it done." Keiko smiled and Kimi stared at her before breaking out in laughter. "You're right, Ms. Keiko!"

"Call me Keiko. And Mickey doesn't mind if you use his nickname…me either."

Kimi smiled a bright radiant ray of light.

"So how are you feeling?"

"Could be better," Kimi said, looking down at her IVs. "I look _horrible_. Horo's going to kill me for being so irresponsible and un-parentlike. Oh no…"

"You're worrying about what your boy's going to do to you?" Keiko laughed. "Talk about a child / parent switch!"

Kimi laughed too. "Yeah well, now thanks to me, we only have one source of steady income…"

"Oh, I was meaning to talk to you about that…let's pretend this didn't happen, shall we?" Keiko put her finger over her mouth, in the 'sh' position. "I didn't…ah…get the paperwork done, so even now, you're still a member of the firm. Let's keep it between us, alright?"

Kimi's eyes widened. "So I'm still employed?"

"Yes."

"And we're still friends?"

"Yes."

Kimi couldn't help but tear up. "Ms…I mean, Keiko…thank you so much!"

Hao leaned against the entryway into the hospital, next to his father. He was watching his utouto, who was in the gift shop with his current (but not yet public) person of interest. Already, Lyserg and Yoh were deciding which flowers to pick out for Kimi. They were going to visit her after Horo and Pirka went to check on their mother. They looked so cute together, Hao decided. It was worth it trying his best to set them up.

"Your brother looks like he's in a good mood," Mikihisa commented.

"He is," Hao said shortly, shrugging.

"I thought you were interested in that Lisa person."

"Lyserg. And I was," Hao said, shrugging again. "But it's worth it just to see him smile, right?"

"Who?"

"Both. Either. Whatever." Hao smiled.

Mikihisa shook his head. "Sometimes I wonder if you were really the product of _my_ raising. Sometimes you're like an angel."

"Yeah. Besides, if you and Keiko are getting back together, me and Yoh could share him."

"I take back everything good I said about you."

Hao laughed.

"I like daisies. I think they say 'Get well soon'."

"Roses look cooler."

"Roses symbolize _love_, Yoh. Get your flowers right." Lyserg rolled his eyes.

"Sorry I don't roll around in flowers every day," Yoh mocked.

"Yeah, I buy a plot of land and plant flowers all over it," Lyserg said, picking out some daisies. "Then when they bloom, I roll around in them all night and that's why I smell so good."

"Can I join you tonight?" Yoh asked slyly.

Lyserg turned around, an amused look on his face. "Yoh, you have such a dirty mind."

"Clean it up for me," Yoh said, leaning down for another kiss. Before he could get what he wanted through, Lyserg held up a daisy, causing Yoh to kiss the flower.

"Hey!" Yoh protested, wiping pollen off his mouth. Lyserg laughed.

"You want too much too soon!" Lyserg said, waving the flower in the air. "I'll let you have me if you wait."

"You make me want to jump you when you say things like that."

Lyserg chuckled. "Exactly."

Horo sat on the roof of the hospital, with Ren next to him. Oddly, they had managed to sneak out without anyone noticing. Horo had reprimanded his mother in front of Pirka, who was just hugging her mother with tears of joy. Kimi had apologized over and over until her son had relented. Laughing, his mother looked at him with warm eyes.

"Oh, Horokeu, I'm so very sorry."

"Don't ever _ever_ drink again, you hear me?!"

"Okay. Okay! I mean it!" Kimi giggled as Pirka sobbed in her shoulder. "I'm so sorry to the both of you. It was all my fault. I stop. I promise."

"Okay," Horo said, backing off slowly.

"Also…please don't blame Keiko. It wasn't her fault. And even if it was," she said, seeing Horo's mouth open again, "let's not talk about it. It's been done…nothing you can say can undo it. It's for the better." Kimi gave him a wide smile before tending to her daughter.

"Nice day," Ren said offhandedly.

"Uh huh." Horo closed his eyes and let the wind take over. It was okay now. Everything was good. His mother was okay. Their family was back on its feet and they were already taking rapid steps toward the future. Yoh had forgiven him.

"Um…Yoh?" Horo paused as he saw Yoh and Lyserg in the waiting room, sitting _rather_ close to each other and talking to each other in quiet tones. Yoh had looked up and walked over to him. "What's wrong, Horo? Your mom's okay, right?"

"Yeah, she's fine. She'll make a complete recovery."

"Oh, thank goodness." Yoh let out a sigh of relief. "So what's wrong?"

"Um…about what I said…I didn't mean to call Lyserg a slut…I'm sorry."

Yoh looked at him. "I know you didn't. It's okay. I forgive you. Nothing happened, alright? Everything's fine now, and let's keep it that way."

Horo smiled to himself. Yoh and Lyserg made a completely cute couple. He had been wondering since Yoh had been wasted and blurted out how he felt when the two would actually get together. So two parts of his life was totally peachy great.

Mmm…peaches.

That aside, Keiko had come up to him to apologize, but he had just shook her off. It wasn't her fault. If her mother said it wasn't, then it wasn't.

Besides, she was just fighting for love, wasn't she? And that was about what all of them were fighting for. No one had been severely hurt and it had been a major wakeup call. No harm done.

Feeling oddly free, Horo stretched and flopped back onto his back, staring up at the darkening sky. The clouds floating above them flickered gently in the dying light.

"Ren, I've been a jerk," he murmured.

"Damn right," Ren said. Horo laughed.

"I can't wait until this all blows over. God, it's already lagging way too long." Horo closed his eyes, listening to the call of birds faintly. "Ren, today's been long."

"Hmm." Ren leaned back, propping himself up with his arms. "Tell me about it."

Horo sighed. "Everyone's together, have you noticed?"

"Yeah."

"Makes me feel lonely."

"What do you think that makes _me_ feel, idiot? Joyously carefree?" Ren asked sarcastically.

"Do you still like Yoh?"

"I haven't begun to consider you yet, if that's what you were wondering."

"Will you?"

Ren was silent. "Maybe."

Horo opened his eyes again. Today _had_ been a terrible day, but he had gotten through it in one piece. And today, he'd do the same. They all would. They would stumble a few times, but they'd all get up again and try and try again.

And maybe, one of those tomorrows, he'd wake up and face the day with Ren by his side. Maybe, just maybe.

Horo smiled lazily, already waiting for the sun to rise again.

The end…and the beginning of another part…

End note: Cheers to the reprints of Shaman King! Soon we will have our ending we're waiting for! If you haven't read that far, please try to. Thank you all for reading this far. Your reviews have encouraged me along the way. Hopefully, the sequel will be out soon, but the fast updates might now be as fast next time because I've only had ideas up to chapter four. Again, thank you for reading and please support me by reading my other fanfics and reviewing them so I can get better!

End note 2 TheFlyingGazeebo: I apologize again. I know you hate kimi. But I apologize deeply. And I apologize ahead of time because she actually has a part in the sequel although it's not big. But keep reading. And I apologize again.

PAID FOR BY SOME PEOPLE MANKINFAN HAS THREATENED HELPED


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